[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Sept. 22 IRANexecutions A man and a Woman Executed on Murder ChargesA man and a woman were executed in 2 different Iranian prisons on murder charges. A man was reportedly hanged at Mashhad Central Prison on murder charges, and a woman was reportedly hanged at Zanjan Central Prison on murder charges. According to the state-run news agency, Khorassan News, the prisoner at Mashhad Central Prison, was executed on the morning of Monday September 18. The report did not identify the name of the prisoner, but identified his age as 29. According to the state-run news agency, Mehr News, the execution at Zanjan Central Prison was carried out on Tuesday September 19. The woman was identified only by the initials N.A. * Man Hanged, Prison Mates Forced to Watch On Monday September 18, at least 1 prisoner was reportedly hanged on sodomy charges at Ardabil Central Prison. According to close sources, prison authorities forced approximately 50 prison mates to watch the execution being carried out. Close sources have identified the prisoner as Shahin Parsajoo, 42 years of age. Shahin Parsajoo and another prisoner by the name of Tofigh Yousefi were reportedly transferred to solitary confinement on Sunday September 17 in preparation for their executions. Close sources say Tofigh Yousefi, who is on death row on drug related charges, was not executed and is currently held in solitary confinement. "Shahin was arrested in 2012 on theft charges, but he was sentenced to death for committing a sodomy offense in prison," an informed source tells Iran Human Rights. Iranian official sources, including the Judiciary and the media, have not announced Shahin Parsajoo's execution. (source fopr both: Iran Human Rights) ** Increased Public Executions on the Eve of Moslem Holy Month to Intimidate People Trying to prevent the public protests by intensifying the atmosphere of terror and intimidation in the society on the eve of the Islamic holy month of Muharram, Iranian regime has increased the public executions in various streets and prisons of the country. Just between September 12 and 20, 5 prisoners, including a 27-year-old youth in Islamabad, another prisoner in Anbarabad city in Kerman province, (September 12), a prisoner in Modarres Blvd in Ilam (September 17), a prisoner at the the Salmas municipality square (September 14), as well as another prisoner in Pars Abad, Moghan, in Ardebil province, were hanged in front of the public eyes. Meanwhile, 6 prisoners were hanged in the prisons of Ardebil, Boroujerd, Khorramabad, Mashad and Zanjan on September 18 and 18. A female prisoner was among the executed on September 18. On September 19, a 23-year-old man was executed while he was sentenced to 3 years in prison for robbery, but was sentenced to death in a new pumped up charge. The henchmen hanged him along with another prisoner, while their hands and feet were in the chain. On the order of the criminal prosecutor of Ardabil, about 50 prisoners had to watch the execution scene of their cellmates. In another event, 13 prisoners were transferred to solitary confinement cells of Gohardasht Prison since Saturday September 18, for execution. The Iranian Resistance calls on the international human rights organizations to urgently and effectively stop the executions of those prisoners on the verge of death, and insists that the greatest thieves and the greatest killers and criminals of Iranian history are Khamenei and the ruling fascist gangs, who, without any accountability, continue their plunder and crimes for the past 38 years. Therefore, Khamenei and other leaders of the mullahs' regime must be brought to justice for serious and systematic violations of human rights and collective and arbitrary executions, and this is why their case should be referred to the International Criminal Court by the UN Security Council. (source: Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran) MALAYSIA: Tahfiz fire: Stop calling for the death penalty, they're minors The 7 youths held over the tahfiz fire last Thursday cannot be punished with the death penalty as they are underage, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said. She said that the suspects will be tried in accordance with laws such as Section 97 (1) of the Child Act 2001. However, if the suspects are found guilty of murder, the mandatory death penalty cannot be imposed on them, she said in a statement Thursday. The offenders may also be punished under Section 91 (1) of the Act, which includes whipping, fines or detention at an approved school. Police have confirmed that the 7, aged between 11 and 18, were detained for murder and causing mischief in connection with the fire on Sept 14. Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun also said that the parents of the suspects would not be ch
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, GA., FLA., IND., TENN., ARIZ., USA
Sept. 22 TEXAS: Battaglia ruled competent for executionCase sent back to lower court to schedule new date for lethal njection An appeals court has found John Battaglia is mentally fit to be executed for killing his daughters, a punishment the Dallas man has twice tried to postpone. Battaglia made national headlines in 2001 when he shot his daughters, 9-year-old Faith and 6-year-old Liberty, at his Deep Ellum loft while their mother listened on the phone. "No, Daddy! Don't do it!" Faith pleaded, seconds before her father pulled the trigger in an act of revenge against his ex-wife. He was first scheduled for execution in March 2016 but was granted a stay after he sought new legal counsel to help appeal his sentence. His execution was rescheduled for December 2016 after a state district judge found Battaglia mentally fit to be put to death. But the Court of Criminal Appeals granted him a stay to evaluate his competency. The appeals courted Wednesday that Battaglia is mentally fit and the Dallas County trial court can set a new execution date. Court records show Battaglia is "convinced that hsi trial and conviction were a sham" and that his death sentence is part of a conspiracy involving "the KKK, child molesters and homosexual lawyers." Mental health experts testified during a competency hearing in November that Battaglia was likely faking or exaggerating his delusions in order to save his life. The appeals court affirmed that assessment and supported the trial court's ruling of competence. "There is support in the record that Battaglia is malingering," Justice Bert Richardson wrote in the appeals court finding. Justice Elsa Alcala was the lone dissenting voice. She wrote in her dissent that the case should be snet back to the trial court for further clarity. A defendant should not be executed when he "lacks a rational understanding of the reason for his execution due to delusions stemming from a severe mental illness," Alcala wrote. (source: Dallas Morning News) * Confronting the Truth About My Friend on Death Row [This article was published in collaboration with the Marshall Project.] On November 3, 2000, a 22-year-old woman named Amy Kitchen went out for dinner at the El Rancho restaurant in Dallas, Texas, with her father, Jerry, and her fiancee, James Mosqueda. I often try to imagine what that meal was like: Amy chatting with her dad about the classes she was taking in nursing school, the plans she had to go shopping with her mother the next day. Her dad giving her some money to spend; he always had a weakness for his only girl. James, 27, leaning back, sipping a beer. A waitress arriving. It would have been an evening like any other - except for the fact that it was the couple's last. Later that same night, the state of Texas says, James's cousin, Ivan Cantu - motivated by his relative's drug debt and his own greed and jealousy - killed Amy and James in an execution-style double murder. He is now on death row, and for 13 years I have been his loyal friend. I never planned to be in this situation, to be friends with someone who could be executed. I live the mundane life of a working mother in Washington, DC - packing lunches, taking the bus to work, attending meetings, reading stories to my child at night, and, usually, falling asleep before 10. But back in 2004, I had been inspired by progressive Catholics to reach out to someone on death row. So I answered a plea from the Community of Sant'Egidio, a worldwide Catholic prayer and charity organization, to write a letter of solidarity to a mentally-disabled death row prisoner named Johnny Paul Penry. It was part of a campaign to overturn his sentence for a 1979 rape and murder. Johnny wrote back - and so did Ivan. They lived in adjacent "pods," as they are called on Texas' death row, the Polunsky Unit. Ivan would help Johnny write letters, but he was looking for his own friends on the outside, too. It was mainly out of pity that I replied to Ivan. I never would have guessed where it's led me. His letters and cards now fill a Rubbermaid container nestled into a bookshelf beside my bed. Just a stack of words on paper, they are also a chronicle of the past 13 years: descriptions to him of my travels as a development consultant; his accounts to me of trying to get innocence projects, journalists, and attorneys to listen to his case. The birth of my son. His struggle to live alone 23 hours a day. Ivan is 44; I'm 42. He and I write once or twice a month, and there is not a letter I receive in which he doesn't encourage me in some way, and ask how my son and husband are. I count on his letters and, he says, he counts on mine. He also says there's a picture of my family, which I sent him years ago, taped to the wall of his cell. Ivan pleaded not guilty and has consistently maintained he's innocent. I've always believed his story,
