[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
July 12 YEMEN: UN 'alarmed' at death sentences given by Yemen rebel court The United Nations said Friday it was "alarmed" at death sentences given by a court run by Yemen's Huthi rebels to 30 academics, trade unionists and preachers for alleged spying. "The UN Human Rights Office has received credible information suggesting that many of those convicted were subjected to arbitrary or unlawful detention, as well as torture," rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters. Those condemned were accused of spying for the Saudi-led coalition, which intervened in Yemen in March 2015, shortly after the Iran-backed Huthis seized the capital Sanaa. Shamdasani noted the group will likely appeal to a higher court, which is also under Huthi control. The rights office urged the appeals court to consider "the serious allegations of torture and other ill-treatment, and of violations of the fair trial and due process rights of the convicted people," Shamdasani said. The Huthis have been accused by rights groups of using Sanaa's courts to target opponents and critics. Yemen's conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, many of them civilians, relief agencies say, and left millions displaced and in need of aid. (source:al-monitor.com) IRANexecution Man Hanged at Zanjan Prison A man hanged at Zanjan prison for murder charges last Monday. According to IHR sources, on the morning of Monday, July 8, a man was hanged at Zanjan prison. He is identified by IHR sources as Mostafa Shiri, 42, a resident of the Iranian city of Marand. Mr Shiri was sentenced to death for murder charges and spent 5 years in prison before his execution. His execution is not announced by Iranian media or authorities so far. According to the Iran Human Rights statistic department, at least 273 people were executed in Iran in 2018. At least 188 of them executed for murder charges. (source: Iran Human Rights) MOROCCO: Imlil murders : The trial adjourned until a final hearing on July 18th The trial of the 24 suspects involved in the murder of 2 Scandinavian tourists in the Atlas Mountains, Imlil, was adjourned until a final hearing on July 18. The Court decided to devote the next hearing to the final say of the suspects and the closing of the proceedings. The suspects, including a man with Swiss and Spanish nationalities, are standing trial over the charges of "setting up a gang to prepare and commit terrorist acts, deliberately putting the life of people in danger, possession of firearms and attempted manufacture of explosives in violation of the law, as part of a collective project aimed at seriously undermining public order." As part of investigations carried out following the discovery of the dead bodies of 2 foreign tourists in the town of Imlil, the central Bureau for judicial investigations (BCIJ), under the directorate general for national territory surveillance, announced that it had arrested several suspects, in collaboration with the Royal Gendarmerie and the National Police. During the hearing held Thursday in Sale, the mother of 1 of the 2 victims Helle Petersen said in a letter read by her lawyer that "was destroyed the moment that 2 policemen came to [her] door on December 17th to announce [her] daughter's death." In her letter, the mother said that "the most just thing would be to give these beasts the death penalty they deserve, I ask that of you", AFP reports. During the last hearing, Moroccan prosecutor in the Sale Appeal court sought death sentence for the three main suspects, accused of murdering 2 Scandinavian tourists. The prosecutor demanded life imprisonment for the fourth suspect, who said that he was not with the 3 men on the day of the attack. He also demanded sentences ranging from 10 to 30 years in prison 20 other suspects tried in the case. For the record, 2 of the main suspects admitted in a previous hearing that they beheaded Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, from Denmark, and Maren Ueland, 28, from Norway while a 3rd one said that he filmed the act. (source: en.yabiladi.com) PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Papua New Guinea Massacre Doesn’t Justify Death PenaltyThorough, Impartial Investigation into Killings Needed On July 8, gunmen in Papua New Guinea (PNG) killed at least 16 people during tribal fighting in Munima and Karia villages in the country’s Hela province. Reports indicate at least 8 women and 5 children were among the victims. Health workers told local media that “it was difficult to identify the bodies because they were all chopped to pieces.” PNG police said the massacre was in retaliation for the killing of 6 people in an ambush on July 6. The killings occurred in the electorate of newly appointed Prime Minister James Marape. In an emotional Facebook post, Marape threatened to “come after” the perpetrators with the death penalty. He expressed frustration at the inadequate
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.C., FLA., NEB., ARIZ., CALIF., ORE.
July 12 TEXAS: Texas took a decade of Alfred Brown's life. It's time to pay him back. After wrongfully convicting Alfred Brown and keeping him behind bars for 12 years, the state should stop trying to sweep him under the rug. Brown was sent to death row in 2005 for the 2003 murder of a Houston police officer and a store clerk at a check-cashing business, but his alibi was not vindicated until years later, when unearthed phone records showed that Brown was at his girlfriend's house at the time of the killing. Although the Court of Criminal Appeals threw out his conviction and death sentence in 2015 because this evidence never made it into the hands of his defense at trial, he wasn't declared actually innocent until earlier this year, when Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg and Harris County District Court Judge George Powell both swore to his innocence. Brown's plight calls to mind an exoneration that went more smoothly: the case of Hannah Overton, who received a finding of actual innocence in 2017 and was compensated by the comptroller the next year without question. The comptroller's office stated that a trial court does not have the authority to dismiss a case it has previously dismissed, but there is clearly precedent for this exact pattern. Like Brown, Overton's case was dismissed twice by the same court, but that did not stop the comptroller from performing his duty of compensating her. Brown has a strong case for actual innocence, and we wish him the best of luck in gaining his due. That doesn't mean we should be comfortable with our system. The state took 12 years of Brown's life and has no intention of paying him back even after admitting the mistake. Now, the burden is on Brown to prove his own innocence. Perhaps the comptroller has good reasons for inconsistency which haven't yet been made clear. Nonetheless, our system has clearly let Brown slip through the cracks. Whatever may happen in the future, Brown now represents a sliver of freed inmates both wronged and ignored by the state. He was not only released, but found innocent, and yet the state still refuses to make him whole. There ought to be a place in our system for people drifting between freedom after wrongful convictions and full pardons. Right now, we're keeping them in limbo. We shouldn't treat a dismissal like a pardon. Neither should we make it an excuse to neglect the wrongfully jailed. Whether or not the state accepts his innocence, Brown spent over a decade in prison thanks to the state's mistakes, not his own. It's time to make him whole and ensure that other victims of the judicial system will not be overlooked. (source: This editorial was written by the editorial board and serves as the voice and opinion of The Dallas Morning News) * Supporters: Fight over Reed’s innocence ‘nowhere near over’ Rodrick Reed stood on the steps of the Supreme Court building in Washington last week, joining capital punishment abolitionists from across the nation one day after Texas’ highest criminal court denied his brother Rodney Reed’s latest appeal for a new trial. Reed, who was convicted in 1996 for the Bastrop County murder of Stacey Stites and placed on death row, has argued for a new trial after his defense attorneys claimed his conviction was based on false scientific evidence and that new evidence called into question testimony provided by Stites’ fiancé, Jimmy Fennell. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected those appeals in a unanimous ruling last Wednesday after reviewing the merits of their argument. It was Reed’s latest loss after the Supreme Court rejected his attorneys’ request to test DNA evidence 1 year ago. “When something like that happens, it kind of knocks the wind out of us a little bit, but we take a deep breath and we keep moving forward,” Rodrick Reed said from Washingtonn. “We move forward in faith and belief that justice will be done, because my brother is truly innocent and all the evidence proves that.” “This fight is nowhere near over,” he said. Last Thursday, Rodrick and other family members gathered on the Supreme Court building’s steps hoisting protest signs and wearing bright shirts reading “free Rodney Reed” or “Texas executes innocent people.” They were joined by advocates from across the country, all seeking to abolish capital punishment in favor of alternatives. Speaking and protesting with all these allies, some of whom have won exoneration themselves, Rodrick found support and inspiration. “It always gives you hope when you have somebody fighting for the same thing you’re fighting for — that always lifts you up,” Roderick said. “When you speak with people who have been where you are, and you see them here today, it gives you hope. It lets you know that the fight is never over.” For 20 years Rodrick, other members the Reed family and supporters around Bastrop have been
