[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
July 16 IRAN: nian MPs approve generalities of bill to reduce death penalty for drug offences The Iranian parliament approved general outlines of a bill to reduce death penalty for drug offences in the country. The bill was approved on July 16 by 182 MPS votes in favor of it, 36 against and 6 abstained, Iran's ISNA news agency reported. The bill, which is under study in parliament for more than 1 year, will save at least 5,000 prisoners pending for execution once approved. Under the new bill, those convicted of producing or distributing more than 100 kilograms of opium or 2 kilograms of industrial narcotics will face death penalty. Under the current law, smuggling of 30 grams of industrial drugs and also 20 kilograms of opium is punishable by death. According to Amnesty International, Iran carried out 567 executions in 2016, standing among the top 5 executioner countries in the world. (source: Trend News Agency) PAKISTAN: Eye For An Eye: Man awarded death sentence Additional and District Sessions Judge Javed Iqbal Ranjha on Saturday awarded the death sentence to an accused involved in a murder case of Shahpur City Police station. According to the prosecution, accused Muhammad Aslam was a resident of village Jhaverian. He lived with his father, Muhammad Ramzan. The accused along with his father murdered his relative Allah Ditta, who was the son of Lal Khan. They had a family dispute on April 18 last year. The court awarded the death penalty to Muhammad Aslam with a fine of Rs200,000 while acquitting Muhammad Ramzan. (source: The Express Tribune) INDONESIA: British grandmother on death row in Bali faces losing last-ditch appeal after thousands of pounds of funding goes missing A British grandmother on death row for drug-smuggling faces losing her last chance to escape the firing squad after thousands of pounds to fund a final appeal went missing. Well-wishers and church groups raised 40,000 pounds to help Lindsay Sandiford, 61, appeal against the death penalty for smuggling 10 lb of cocaine into Bali in 2012. The money was paid into accounts controlled by Indonesian legal advocate Ursa Supit, who used to work with British charity Reprieve. But 18 months after receiving the funds, Supit has failed to lodge an appeal - despite withdrawing 7,800 pounds to make the arrangements. She has also refused requests from Sandiford to produce bank statements to account for the remaining money and has now cut off all contact with her. Friends of Supit say the 45-year-old is a drug addict and is unable to account for the funds. Sandiford, of Redcar, Teesside, said: 'I could now be taken away and executed at any time.' Supit is living on an island near Bali where she bought a 3-year lease on a complex of holiday bungalows. She did not respond to calls from The Mail on Sunday. iii Sandiford has had no legal representation since her previous lawyer was jailed for corruption in an unrelated case in 2015. The British Government has refused to fund her appeal. (source: dailymail.co.uk) GHANA: Revealed: Ghana has no hangman to execute death row convicts The last time the death sentence system was used was in 1993. There is no personnel to operate the hangman system at the Nsawam medium prison. The Director of Administration at the Prison Service, Stephen Coffie, has revealed that Ghana currently has no hangman to execute death sentences. According to him, the last professionally trained hangman Ghana had has long left the system and is yet to be replaced. (source: yen.com.gh) TURKEY: Erdogan backs death penalty on Turkey coup attempt anniversary The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reiterated his support for reinstating the death penalty in an emotive and combative speech to tens of thousands of people gathered in Istanbul to mark the anniversary of last year's attempted coup. On Saturday a sea of marchers flocked to the Bosphorus Bridge where 36 people were killed by coup soldiers exactly a year ago. In a speech packed with religious references, Erdogan said defendants in coup-related trials should wear a standard uniform "like in Guantanamo", warned that Turkey would "cut the heads off" traitors bent on destabilising the country, and brandished the coup plotters as "unbelievers". "The most powerful weapons were mercilessly used by the enemies of our nation," he said. "Our people only had the flag and faith." During the attempted coup, tanks and fighter jets were deployed in the streets and skies of Ankara and Istanbul, when a faction within the military attempted to overthrow the elected government. The coup was defeated after citizens of all political stripes took to the streets to challenge the soldiers. The government blames Fethullah Gulen, an exiled preacher based in the US with a large grassroots following, and his movement for orchestrating the coup attempt. But Turkey is
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., GA., ALA., CALIF., ORE.
July 16 TEXAS: Texas Cracks Down on the Market for Jailhouse Snitches Prosecutors love jailhouse informants who can provide damning testimony that a cellmate privately confessed to a crime. Jailhouse informants, in turn, love the perks they get in exchange for snitching, like shortened sentences, immunity from prosecution or a wad of cash. As you might imagine, though, in a market driven by such questionable motives, the testimony these informants provide is often unreliable. Even worse, it can be deadly. False testimony from jailhouse informants has been the single biggest reason for death-row exonerations in the modern death-penalty era, according to a 2005 survey by the Center on Wrongful Convictions. They accounted for 50 of the 111 exonerations to that point, and there have been 48 more exonerations since then. Last month, Texas, which has been a minefield of wrongful convictions - more than 300 in the last 30 years alone - passed the most comprehensive effort yet to rein in the dangers of transactional snitching. Texas has become a national leader in criminal-justice reforms, after having long accommodated some of the worst practices and abuses in the nation. The state, particularly in light of past abuses, deserves credit for seeking innovative solutions to problems that have long proved resistant to change. Every weekday, get thought-provoking commentary from Op-Ed columnists, the Times editorial board and contributing writers from around the world. The new law requires prosecutors to keep thorough records of all jailhouse informants they use - the nature of their testimony, the benefits they received and their criminal history. This information must be disclosed to defense lawyers, who may use it in court to challenge the informant's reliability or honesty, particularly if the informant has testified in other cases. The law was recommended by a state commission established in 2015 to examine exonerations and reduce the chances of wrongful convictions. The commission also persuaded lawmakers to require procedures to reduce the number of mistaken eyewitness identifications and to require that police interrogations be recorded - smart steps toward a fairer and more accurate justice system. But the new procedures on jailhouse informants shouldn't have been necessary in the 1st place. Under longstanding Supreme Court rulings, prosecutors are required to turn over any evidence that might call an informant's credibility into question - such as conflicting stories or compensation they get in exchange for their testimony. Yet far too many fail to do so. A better solution would be to bar the use of compensated informants outright, or at least in cases involving capital crimes, as one Texas bill has proposed. Studies have shown that even when a defense lawyer is able to make the case that an informant has an incentive to lie, juries are just as likely to convict. And that's assuming a defense lawyer uses such evidence - not always a safe assumption given the wide range of quality in the defense bar. Also, making evidence admissible at trial only goes so far. The vast majority of convictions are the result of guilty pleas, which means a defendant may not even find out that an informant was paid to incriminate him before having to decide whether to accept a plea offer. Some states have begun to require that judges hold hearings to test an informant's reliability, much as they would test an expert witness's knowledge - before the jury can hear from him. But the deeper fix that's needed is a cultural one. Many prosecutors are far too willing to present testimony from people they would never trust under ordinary circumstances. Until prosecutors are more concerned with doing justice than with winning convictions, even the most well-intentioned laws will fall short. (source: Editorial, New York Times) PENNSYLVANIA: Lynn Abraham vies for interim D.A. job Former District Attorney Lynne Abraham, who held the job longer than anyone else in the history of the city, heads a list of applicants to serve as the interim D.A. until a replacement for former D.A. Seth Williams is elected this November. Abraham, the city's first female district attorney, held the office from 1991 to 2010. During her term she earned nicknames such as "Deadliest D.A." and "Queen of Death" for the high rate at which her office sought the death penalty. However, none of her cases has ever resulted in an actual execution. Former D.A. Williams, an Abraham protege who eventually succeeded her, resigned from the position on June 29 after pleading guilty to 1 charge of bribery. Williams was indicted on 29 federal charges including bribery, wire fraud and extortion back in March. He will be sentenced later this year. The interim will hold the position until the fall general election when Democratic favorite Larry Krasner faces off against Republican unde
