[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Oct. 12 IRAN: On World Day Against the Death Penalty, Iran Is Moving in the Wrong Direction Thursday marked the 17th annual World Day Against the Death Penalty, and thus it provided another opportunity for human rights advocates to highlight Iran’s status as the world’s second most prolific user of capital punishment. Yet the Iranian regime hold the record of execution per capita. Furthermore, the figures that have been recorded so far in 2019, especially since the appointment of a new judiciary head in March, suggest that the numbers of executions are rebounding. This came as little surprise to those who are familiar with Iran’s new top law enforcement official, whose appointment by the clerical Supreme Leader. Ebrahim Raisi is notorious for human rights violations, including but not limited to his prominent role in the interrogation and summary execution of political prisoners and members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, Mujahedin-e Khalq or MEK) in 1988. An estimated 30,000 individuals were killed as part of that massacre, with victims including young teenagers. In this way, it set the stage for a number of issues related to the death penalty which persist to the present day. Iran is one of the last countries in the world to continue carrying out capital sentences for persons who were under the age of 18 at the time of their offenses. And the judiciary has been widely and repeatedly condemned for its failure to consider any mitigating factors when sentencing prisoners to the death penalty. Mental illness, self-defense, and a history of abuse all stand alongside youth as examples of such factors. But juvenile execution is unique in being categorically outlawed by 2 international documents that Iran has signed. The Iranian regime routinely rejects such provisions, in spite of the signature, by characterizing them as cultural impositions which should not be allowed to override the clerical regime’s adherence to a hardline interpretation of sharia law. On this basis, Tehran continues to regard boys as legally mature at the age of 13, and girls at only nine. Under constant international pressure, the government did alter the law to allow judges to consider lesser sentences for youthful offenders, but in practice, this principle is rarely used. Consequently, at least 2 juvenile offenders have been executed so far this year. Human rights activists rely on independent reporters and prisoners themselves to uncover executions that might otherwise have gone unreported. Iran Human Rights Monitor has reported figures spanning the time between its annual reports on capital punishment in Iran, which are released to coincide with World Day Against the Death Penalty. Between October 2018 and September 2019, at least 273 executions were reportedly carried out across the country. Of these, eight were juvenile offenders. Ebrahim Raisi’s appointment as head of the judiciary took place just at the halfway point of the period covered by the Iran Human Rights Monitor report. And that report underscores the fact that the vast majority of the executions took place in the latter half, with Ebrahim Raisi overseeing 173 of them. The spike in executions was accompanied by a spike in overall repression, and IHRM finds that at least six of the state’s victims were political prisoners. However, a number of other previously-reported executions may also fall under this category, as Tehran frequently depends on vague charges like “spreading corruption on earth” or “enmity against God” to justify capital sentences. The public display or broadcast of female dancing is illegal in the Islamic Republic, and this is another area of social behavior that has seemingly been targeted by Raisi’s judiciary at the same time that his courts are driving up the rate of executions. On Tuesday alone, at least 3 young women were detained for posting videos of themselves dancing, and at least one reported that her family had been threatened not to speak publicly about the case. This, too, is a common phenomenon in Iran’s criminal justice system. Struggling to keep a veil of secrecy over the country’s human rights record, officials tend to insist that criminal cases will be resolved quickly and more favorably if they remain undisclosed. But in reality, secretive cases do not seem to proceed any more quickly; and in fact, silence can sometimes have fatal consequences insofar as it gives law enforcement officials an opportunity to keep detainees in isolation where they can be more easily tortured to elicit false confessions. Although a number of high profile individuals have died under these conditions in recent years, their deaths are not tallied among those who have been hanged in Iranian jails. As such, anti-death penalty activism directly addresses only a portion of the fatal problems with Iran’s judiciary and prisons. (source:
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.C., FLA., OHIO, TENN., USA
October 12 TEXAS: Dr. Phil On The Upcoming Execution Of Rodney Reed: ‘I Want A Stay Of Execution, So This Man Can Present The Truth’ Dr. Phil is tackling one of his most important topics yet this week as he fights on behalf of a man named Rodney Reed who has been on death row for 22 years while proclaiming his own unwavering innocence. Reed has served time for the murder of a 19-year-old bride-to-be named Stacey Stites since 1996 and is scheduled to be executed on November 20th, 2019. New evidence in the case, which wasn’t available at the time of Reed’s sentencing, seems to corroborate with his innocence plea and Dr. Phil is determined to get that evidence seen before it’s too late. CBS Local’s Matt Weiss spoke Dr. Phil about the case and what his viewers can do to help. MW: Dr. Phil, good morning! Dr. P: Good Morning Matt. MW: So, quite a serious topic we have to discuss today. We’re going to be talking about Rodney Reed, a man who has been on death row for over 20 years and you actually went to visit him prison and spoke with him. What was it like going there and talking to someone in his situation? Dr. P: Well Matt, I was asked to get involved in this by Bryce Benjet, who is a lawyer with the Innocence Project and we’re talking about Rodney Reed, he’s been on death row for 22 ½ years. He was convicted of the rape and murder of 19-year-old Stacy Stites in south Texas. Mr. Reed has been sitting there for 22 ½ years waiting to die, he’s been scheduled for execution before, he’s exhausted appeals and now he is set for an execution unless we do something, we, all of us that watch Dr. Phil, unless we do something about this I have no doubt in my mind he will be executed. I interviewed him on death row, he has not given any other interviews until now. I interviewed him with an eye towards whether he was telling the truth or not. I asked him some questions that he just didn’t know the socially desirable answer to, to see whether he was telling the truth or not and I came away with a very troubled heart. This man is telling the truth when he says he didn’t commit this crime. I then did a really deep dive into the pile, there are four medical scientific experts, that were not available at the time of trial or even during the appeals, DNA experts, forensic experts, that say it is not even possible, in fact it is scientifically impossible that he committed this crime. They have wrong the man, they are getting ready to execute an innocent man. Matt, I’ve talked to people that have different views about the death penalty, some in favor of it, some not, but I never met anyone that favors killing a man that you’re not 100% sure is guilty of the crime which he has been convicted. We all know that there have been people on death row that have been executed and later exonerated and that’s exactly what’s getting ready to happen here if we don’t do something about it. MW: You also spoke to his attorney. What information were they able to add to the story and to his assertion that he’s innocent? Dr. P: Well I talked to attorneys on both sides, in fact I have an attorney on the show today that is 100% convinced that Rodney Reed is guilty. Now he has a reason for that, he has an agenda. Look, the law is that the burden of proof is on the prosecution that you’re innocent until proven guilty. I understand that’s what the law is, that’s not how it really works. How it really works is the jury says, “OK if we’re not down here for the reasons that the prosecutors say we are, then you need to give me an alternative explanation. If Rodney Reed didn’t do this crime, then you need to tell me who did. You need to tell me why we’re down here. Why it’s wrong.” That’s what I intend to do on Friday. I’m going to give them an alternative explanation, if Rodney Reed didn’t do this crime, I’m going to give them a really good candidate for who did. MW: It sounds like from talking to you, you truly believe that he is innocent. In order to at east get a stay of execution, what do you feel needs to happen to hold off the execution scheduled for next month? Dr. P: Well I don’t want a stay of execution, I want a new trial. I want this man to have a fair and full trial, which has never yet happened. And in fact Matt, that’s what he wants. He’s not asking to be turned loose, all he wants is a fair trial, he’s been there for 22 ½ years. I said to him, “Do you want them to open this door and let you out?” He said, ‘No, I don’t. What I want is a fair trial. I want my name cleared. I don’t want them to just turn me loose and say never mind and everybody speculate whether I did it or not. I want a fair trial. I want all of this evidence to come forward. I want people to say not only to say he’s not guilty, I want people to say he’s innocent.” That’s what he wants. Do I want a stay of execution, yes. I want a stay of execution, so a trial can be scheduled and so
