Iraq court agrees execution of Baghdad church attackers

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s highest court ratified death sentences on Thursday for three men convicted of a 2010 attack on a Syrian Catholic cathedral in Baghdad, the bloodiest attack on Iraqi Christians after the 2003 invasion.

Gunmen linked to Al-Qaeda seized hostages during Sunday mass at the Our Lady of Salvation church in Baghdad on Oct. 31, 2010. Around 52 hostages and police were killed and 67 wounded in the attack, which ended when security forces stormed the church.

Al Qaeda’s Iraqi affiliate, Islamic State of Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack.

“There are three convicted criminals. All of them are Iraqis and they were convicted based on the terrorism law,” said Abdul-Sattar Al-Birqdar, spokesman for the Supreme Judicial Council.

“The sentence is final and it will be sent to the presidency to issue a decree to the Justice Ministry to execute it.” Last week, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay criticized Iraq for carrying out a large number of executions and questioned the fairness of its judicial proceedings. On Wednesday, Iraq executed 17 people.

While most of the sectarian fighting that followed the 2003 US-led invasion was between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, attacks on Christians in Iraq have increased in recent years.

The brazen assault on Our Lady of Salvation struck fear into the Christian community, prompting hundreds of families to flee to Iraq’s northern Kurdish region or overseas. Pope Benedict condemned the attack.

Iraq once had about 1.5 million Christians but the number has fallen sharply in recent years, according to church reports. Iraq’s total population is estimated at about 30 million.

One of the alleged leaders of the church attack, Huthaifa Al-Batawi, known as Al-Qaeda’s “Emir of Baghdad,” was killed in an attempted jailbreak last May, officials said.

Sources: Arab News, Reuters, Feb. 2, 2012

Mumia transferred to general population

Mumia Abu-Jamal

After more than 30 years in the chambers of death, political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal has been released into the general prison population. Finally, as of Jan. 27, he is now able to embrace his loved ones and shake the hands of all those who have supported him in the struggle for freedom.

In a short message sent to his spouse, Wadiya Jamal, Mumia said: “My dear friends, brothers and sisters — I want to thank you for your real hard work and support. I am no longer on death row, no longer in the hole, I’m in population. This is only part one and I thank you all for the work you’ve done. But the struggle is for freedom!”

On Dec. 7, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams announced that he had abandoned pursuing the death sentence for Mumia after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the DA’s appeal to reinstate Mumia’s death sentence. On Dec. 9, a standing-room-only event at the Philadelphia Convention Center drew an unprecedented number of people, young and old, especially from the city, to demand his freedom.

Days later, Abu-Jamal was transferred from the infamous SCI Greene to the supposedly less restrictive prison, SCI Mahanoy, just 100 miles from his hometown of Philadelphia. But what should have been an automatic transfer into general population turned into a yet more restrictive and cruel environment.

For seven long weeks, Mumia was held in solitary confinement or “the hole,” with no access to news, bright lights on all the time, wrists and ankles shackled when he was out of his cell and many more conditions far more severe than the ones on death row.

Click here to read the full article

Source: Workers World, Feb. 2, 2012

Germans, Moroccan face death in Malaysia drug case

2 Germans and a Moroccan man are facing the death penalty on charges of smuggling more than 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of methamphetamine into Malaysia, known for its strict anti-drug laws.

A district court near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport charged the three men on January 13 with drug trafficking, said a customs official who declined to be named.

Airport officials arrested the men arriving from Istanbul on January 1 after finding 10.2 kilograms of methamphetamine hidden in the bags they were carrying, the official said Wednesday.

He said no plea had been recorded from the three pending the case’s transfer to a high court once a chemist report on the drugs is ready.

The 2 Germans have parents from Afghanistan but were born in Germany, while the Moroccan has lived in Germany for 15 years, the official said.

Authorities in the Southeast Asian country went on “red alert” late last year following a surge in arrests and drug seizures, tightening passenger and luggage screening.

Despite Malaysia’s strict laws — death by hanging is the mandatory penalty for drug trafficking convictions — Kuala Lumpur airport authorities last year seized some 195 kilograms (430 pounds) of drugs and held more than 30 people.

Smugglers have traditionally arrived from Africa and the Middle East but are increasingly coming from countries such as Turkey and the Philippines, according to officials.

A high court sentenced a 23-year-old Iranian mechanic to death Monday for trafficking 1.4 kilograms of methamphetamine two years ago, according to the official Bernama news agency.

Several other Europeans, including 2 from Britain, 1 from the Netherlands and 1 from France, were arrested in drug raids in Malaysia and charged with trafficking in November.

In October, a Malaysian court sentenced a Japanese woman to death for smuggling methamphetamine into the country in what officials said was the 1st such case involving a citizen of Japan.

Source: Agence France-Presse, Feb. 2, 2012

A gruesome history of capital punishment in Toronto

In 1798, John Sullivan, an illiterate Irish immigrant new to the town of York, was on a drinking spree with his friend Flannery, nicknamed "Latin Mike" for his habit of reciting quotations he had learned in church. During a spirited drinking bout, Flannery forged a note for three shillings and ninepence (less than a dollar) under the name "Fisk" and persuaded Sullivan to hand it in to the bank.

Successful, the pair spent the money on whisky at a local bar, but when they were found out Flannery fled town leaving his friend to take the fall. Sullivan was tried, convicted and hung from a makeshift rig on King Street opposite Toronto Street where a crowd of people in their best clothes had turned out to witness the spectacle. When he finally swung from the gallows — a poorly tied knot failed to kill him the first time — John Sullivan became the first recorded person to be executed in the town of York.

The history of execution in Toronto is a grisly one filled with tales of sickening murder, heinous and petty criminals.

Before the death penalty was officially repealed on July 14, 1976, more than 700 people had been executed for murder, theft, rape and other crimes in Canada. A number of hangings, 34 in total, took place at the Don Jail between 1908 and 1962.

Click here to read the full article

Source: blogTO, Feb. 3, 2012

Insiders speak out on the death penalty

Holding cells at 'The Walls' Unit
Huntsville, TX.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment was legal in 1976, the state of Texas has executed 978 people.

For many Americans, the death penalty is seen as a part of a complex judicial system that ultimately protects the majority from a dangerous minority.

Except in cases of extreme controversy like that of Troy Davis in September, the death penalty is an issue that often goes ignored by the American public.

"If you think this is not your issue, I would urge you to get out of your naiveté," Rick Halperin, director of the SMU Embrey Human Rights program, said to a packed McCord Auditorium.

In the upcoming presidential election, candidates on both sides of the aisle are for the death penalty.

"You should really be aware of the implications of your voting. You are voting for people who have said they would kill someone," Halperin said.

A panel discussion on the death penalty in Texas on Thursday night portrayed an often-untold perspective of capital punishment.

Exonerees Anthony Graves and Clarence Brandley along with the Rev. Carroll Pickett, a former death row chaplain, presented their arguments against a punishment often described as inhumane.

"Most of you weren't even born when I went through this hell 23 years ago," Brandley said.

Brandley was wrongfully convicted of the rape and murder of a 16-year-old student. He spent nine years on death row.

His first trial ended in a hung jury. But just a few weeks later, he was sentenced to death.

Brandley was desperate for media and legal attention when an overzealous prosecution convicted him.

"I passed my polygraph test and no one cared," Brandley said. "But if I had failed, all the news media would have been all over it."

He urged the crowd to carefully examine the merits of the justice system in America before deciding on the capital punishment issue.

"Don't let anyone tell you that your vote doesn't count," Brandley said. "I don't understand how someone can sign a death warrant and go to bed that night. I don't know what kind of God he serves."

Brandley's impassionate speech for political activism was followed by the Rev. Pickett's discussion on the evolution of his views on the death penalty.

"I was in favor of the death penalty because my grandfather was murdered when my father was just 12," Pickett said. "I assumed that no one was just found to be guilty without cause."

Pickett was known as the death chaplain at the Huntsville prison because he was the last religious figure that saw death row inmates before their executions.

The former chaplain now regrets his former stance on the death penalty issue.

"I buried 4,000 inmates who died in prison and watched over 95 executions," Pickett said. "The longer I was at the prison and talked to people, I realized that the death penalty was wrong."

Pickett listed multiple reasons for why the death penalty was not a practical punishment.

He listed the high public costs of the death penalty, cruel and unusual treatment of prisoners and the ineffectiveness of the death penalty as a crime deterrent as reasons to look at other punishment alternatives.

However, Pickett saved his best reasons for last.

"We have executed innocent people because of faulty eyewitness testimony," Pickett said. "And even worse, before someone dies, they strip search him and leave him naked in a 9-by-9 room waiting to die."

Click here to read the full article

Source: The Daily Campus, Feb. 3, 2012

Iran: Death penalty announced for "disruptive" currency traders

The head of Iran's judiciary announced on Wednesday that the courts will readily "issue death penalties" to the "disruptors" of the country's foreign currency market.

ISNA reports that Ayatollah Sadegh Amoli Larijani emphasized that the judiciary will deal with those who have been "identified as economic disruptors" just as it would with "smugglers, bandits and drug traffickers."

Drug trafficking is punishable by death in the Islamic Republic.

In recent weeks, Iran's foreign currency and gold markets have experienced sharp fluctuations, which many analysts have linked to the intensification of international sanctions against Iran. A number of high-ranking Iranian officials, however, have blamed the market instability on disruptive plans implemented by the regime's enemies.

Ayatollah Larijani said some of the "problems in the foreign currency and gold markets are created by groups linked to the regime's enemies." He added that these groups "have made the market volatile by creating various websites that fabricate rates for foreign currency and gold."

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has publicly blamed certain unnamed political figures and domestic media outlets connected to certain institutions.

MP Ahmad Tavakoli, the head of Parliament's research commission, warned that the current economic situation could lead to "bankruptcy." He called on Parliament and the judiciary to confront the administration, of which he was highly critical.

Iran's top police official has been quoted as saying that the fluctuations in the currency market are promoted by foreign media to create insecurity ahead of the March parliamentary elections.

Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi has also announced that his ministry is trying to identify "behind-the-scenes elements of recent volatility in the currency and gold markets."

Meanwhile, Iranian media report that a number of traders have been detained. They work on Tehran's Ferdowsi Street, a hub for foreign-currency traders.

Analysts have criticized the arrests, arguing that heightened insecurity in the trading environment can only increase the cost of trading and cause further hikes in the exchange rate.

Iran's Central Bank has announced that foreign currencies can only be traded within three to five percentage points of the official Central Bank rate, warning that violators will face penalties.

Source: Payvan Iran News, Feb. 2, 2012

China: Death is too high a price for Wu to pay

Chinese police officers
rehearsing execution procedures

The death sentence handed last month to businesswoman Wu Ying for fraud has prompted a rare unanimous plea for mercy from the mainland public, and rarer still, some rational discussions on the use of capital punishment.

If the public's concerns are heeded, this could perhaps also provide impetus for a bolder change to death sentence reviews in the upcoming amendment of the Criminal Procedure Law.

The 29-year-old Wu, who started her own hair salon at the age of 15 and went on to become the billionaire owner of Bense Holding Group in Zhejiang , was arrested in 2007 and convicted in 2009 for illegally collecting public funds worth up to 770 million yuan (HK$947.6 million) with the intention to defraud.

More recently, on January 18, the Zhejiang High Court upheld the death sentence, shooting down defence lawyers' arguments that Wu was only borrowing money for an overambitious business that ultimately failed. Now her life is in the hands of the Supreme People's Court, which will hold a final review of the death sentence soon.

Wu's case has drawn widespread sympathy from the mainland public for several reasons. Compared to most suspended death sentences imposed on corrupt officials in recent years, Wu's punishment seems unnecessarily harsh. [O]ne fundamental question seems most disturbing to the public: why must someone die for committing an economic crime that did not physically harm others?

The authorities have taken various steps in recent years towards easing back on capital punishment, in line with international trends. One such step in February last year was cutting the list of crimes punishable by death to 55 from 68. Those trimmed off the list were mostly economic and non-violent crimes where the death penalty was rarely used.

The supreme court has also regained the final say on all death sentences, with a new review procedure introduced in 2007, adding an extra layer of judicial oversight before anyone is executed. Still, China ranks No1 in the world in terms of the number of crimes punishable by death and the number of annual executions - estimated in the thousands by some human rights groups. The actual figure remains a state secret.

The authorities have said their ultimate goal is to abolish capital punishment - but the process should be gradual. Their rationale for this is that the crime rate is still high, the country is still in an economic transition and the public still rely on the death penalty as a just punishment for certain crimes.

Click here to read the full article

Source: South China Morning Post, Feb. 2, 2012

Related articles:

Death Penalty News: China: Death penalty in fraud crimes divides ...

Jan 20, 2012

The Zhejiang Provincial Higher People's Court Wednesday upheld the death penalty for Wu Ying, the 31-year-old former owner of the Bense Holding Group. Wu, born to a farmer's family, was the sixth-richest woman in the ...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Death Penalty News: China businesswoman gets death sentence ...

Dec 19, 2009

The 28-year-old Wu Ying started out a decade ago with a single beauty salon but eventually built up a holding group, Bense Holdings, that was known around the country, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Death Penalty News: A Glimpse of Death Row in China

Dec 02, 2011

Recommended article: "Photos: The final 12 hours of Chinese women on death row", Ministry of Tofu, November 29, 2011. December 11, 2011 UPDATE. Truth about laughing prisoner who wanted to look her best to be shot ...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Botswana executes convicted killer

January 31, 2012: In Botswana, death row inmate Zibani Thamo convicted of murder was hanged in the morning.

In a statement the Department of Prison and Rehabilitation confirmed the execution but did not state who carried it out and where the body was buried. However, it is common knowledge that prison warders are the one who carry out the execution and burial in the prison compound.

Thamo was convicted of the 2007 murder of his girlfriend Sihle Dube. The Francistown High Court learnt that Thamo mutilated his girlfriend and scattered her pieces along the Tati riverbank. He was sentenced to death in March 2011 and immediately sought the intervention of the Court of Appeal in September, which upheld the sentence.

His execution leaves three death row inmates being, Modise Tlhokamolelo, Mangombe Tadubane and Gatlhalosamang Gaboakelwe.

Sources: www.mmegi.bw, February 1, 2012

Yemen: 2 executed in a political case

January 31, 2012: two Yemeni oppositionists, Khalid Nahshal and Abdu Nahshal, were executed in a political case.

The defendants were among 32 people charged with killing at least one government official during the presidential elections in September 2006 in an exchange of fire between a group of armed men loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh and those who supported the opposition candidate Faisal Bin Shamlan.

The alliance of Yemen's main opposition parties condemned the execution. Spokesman of the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) Abdu Al-Odaini said the execution of Khalid Nahshal and Abdu Nahshal was a political retaliation due to their support to the opposition candidate in 2006 presidential elections. The JMP had called Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi to suspend this execution, stressing that it was a political case that should be included in the immunity law granted to President Saleh.

"Khalid Nahshal and Abdu Nahshal were executed by a political decision, not by a judicial sentence," said Abdul-Rahman Barman, the executive director of Hood, a Yemeni human rights organization. He further said that the outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his followers put pressures on the judiciary to issue such unfair sentence. He cited that this case did not have any basic prosecution standards, affirming that witnesses were not able to testify at trial and they were beaten and assaulted. "This trial was motivated by political retaliation, the law of the jungle, and it lacked transparency and justice."

Sources: Alsahwah.net, January 31, 2012

Iraq executes 17 convicted criminals in one day

February 1, 2012: Iraq executed 17 convicted criminals in one day this week, the justice ministry said, bringing to at least 51 the number so far this year.

"The justice ministry carried out (death) sentences against 17 people condemned for terrorist and criminal crimes ... on Tuesday (January 31)," a statement said.

"The ministry is continuing to carry out punishments against criminals according to the law and the constitution," Justice Minister Hassan al-Shammari was quoted as saying.

Last month, ministry spokesman Haidar al-Saadi said Iraq had so far executed 34 people this year, including two women and a Syrian. That is half the entire figure of 68 for all of 2011, including three foreigners and three Iraqi women.

The United Nations estimates that more than 1,200 people have been sentenced to death in Iraq since 2004, but it does not have comprehensive statistics on executions.

Death sentences in Iraq must be signed by the country's president, currently Jalal Talabani, but the chief executive may delegate that authority to either of the two vice presidents. As Talabani is an ardent opponent of the death penalty, that is what he does.

Source: Agence France-Presse, February 1, 2012

Iran: man hanged in public in Karaj

Iran Human Rights, January 31: One man was hanged publicly in the courtyard of the Karaj police department early Tuesday morning, January 31.

According to the official Iranian news agency IRNA, the man was identified as "H. M." and convicted of driving over and killing a police officer in Karaj in 2009.

According to the reports from the human rights group "Human rights and democracy activists in Iran" the prisoner who was executed today was "Hassan Armin (Mafi)".

According to this report Hassan, who was a coach in kick boxing, was paralysed in both his lower extremities as a result of being beaten while he was in the prison.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Feb. 1, 2012

Arizona execution-team requirements eased

The department that executes Arizona's death-row inmates in Florence has loosened requirements for those who inject the lethal drugs, drawing concern from a defense attorney who says his repeated questions over new procedures aren't being answered.

In its new protocol to conduct executions, the Arizona Department of Corrections removed a requirement that everyone on the execution team needs to have at least one year of current experience with starting intravenous lines. Now, those on the team don't need to have recent experience, just experience -- meaning someone who started IV lines 20 years ago would be eligible to conduct executions for the department.

Without knowing the qualifications of those conducting the executions and with other unanswered questions about procedures, defense attorneys say death row inmates' constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment are at risk.

Click here to read the full article

Source: AZcentral.com, January 30, 2012

Related article:

Death Penalty News: Questions raised over Arizona's execution team

Jan 22, 2012

The qualifications of the medical team and other aspects of the way Arizona conducts its execution were the subject of a recent lawsuit filed by Baich arguing the state's execution practices violate constitutional protections...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Japan: Justice minister feels signing off on hangings just part of job description

Death chamber
at Tokyo Detention Center

Toshio Ogawa is the first justice minister to tacitly support capital punishment since the Democratic Party of Japan came to power in September 2009 and has no intention of engaging in the debate over whether to end the death penalty.

He said the study group weighing the possibility of abolishing capital punishment has run out of things to discuss.

"Whether or not the death sentence should be kept had been discussed in depth before the study group was set up (in September 2010 by then Justice Minister Keiko Chiba).

"It has not yielded any new opinions and it is a waste of time to listen to the same opinions," Ogawa told journalists in his Tokyo office Jan. 23.

"We are done discussing and are now in the midst of compiling opinions, and will make an announcement when everything is compiled," he said.

Ogawa, who passed the bar in 1970 and served as a judge, prosecutor and lawyer before becoming a lawmaker, was senior vice justice minister for a year to last September in Naoto Kan's administration.

The study group was never tasked with coming up with proposals. Chiba, who signed the orders for 2 hangings despite her personal beliefs, established the group because she wanted nationwide discussions on capital punishment.

Ogawa reiterated he feels it is his responsibility as justice minister to sign off on executions.

"I don't really want to do it, but that is one of the justice minister's job descriptions. With 130 inmates on death row and public opinion showing 85 % of Japanese support the death sentence, it is inexcusable not to sign off on executions," he said.

No hangings have taken place since Chiba, a DPJ member, gave the go-ahead for the 2 executions in July 2010.

The frequency of executions appears to vary depending on the justice minister at the time. Other than the 2 inmates sent to the gallows in 2010, 7 were hanged in 2009, 15 in 2008, nine in 2007 and 4 in 2006.

Japan is one of 58 countries, including the United States, China, India and Iran, where executions take place. A total of 104 countries, including all European countries, Canada and Australia, either have abolished the death sentence or have not resorted to its use in years, according to Amnesty International.

Ogawa said he has not ruled out signing off on executions while the Diet is in session. Past justice ministers have generally refrained from having anyone executed during legislative sessions, apparently to avoid coming under fire from fellow lawmakers.

Ogawa said he is neutral on calls for establishing an alternative punishment, such as life in prison with no chance of parole. Some argue this sentence is necessary because the gap in harshness between hanging and life with possible parole is too wide.

"I think it is extremely painful if inmates have no possibility of parole. They may give in to despair. On the other hand, it is better than death," he said.

Source: Japan Times, January 31, 2012

Related articles:

Death Penalty News: Japan: New minister won't shirk from hangings

Jan 15, 2012

New Justice Minister Toshio Ogawa indicated he may issue execution orders as the number of death-row inmates has grown to a postwar high of around 130, but suggested that condemned Aum Shinrikyo members may not ...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Death Penalty News: Japan: New Justice Minister Says Execution ...

Jan 19, 2012

OGAWA Toshio, who was appointed Minister of Justice on 13 January, has said that he intends to resume executions. Last year Japan did not carry out any executions, for the first time in 19 years. The estimated 130 death row ...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

India: Kasab's death penalty appeal adjourned, no date set

The Supreme Court adjourned an appeal hearing on Tuesday into the death sentence handed down to Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Kasab, one of 10 gunmen who laid siege to Mumbai in attacks which lasted nearly 3 days and killed 166 people, has appealed for his sentence to be overturned after he was convicted in May 2010.

The 24-year-old Pakistani was found guilty of a series of crimes, including waging war against India, murder and terror acts.

The November 2008 attacks saw 10 heavily-armed Islamist gunmen storm targets including luxury hotels, a Jewish centre and a train station.

1 of the 2 Supreme Court judges due to hear the appeal was unavailable on Tuesday, forcing the adjournment, officials said. No date was immediately set for the next hearing.

Kasab's court-appointed lawyer Raju Ramachandran told AFP that his job was "a call of duty", but declined to talk further about the case.

India blames the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant outfit for training, equipping and financing the attack with support from "elements" in the Pakistan military.

Kasab's death sentence was confirmed by a state high court in Mumbai last year. If he loses his Supreme Court appeal, he will be able to appeal for clemency from the president.

Ujjwal Nikam, who prosecuted the case in Mumbai on behalf of the Maharashtra state, is seeking to push through the death sentence.

"This is the rarest of rare cases," Nikam told AFP. "He should not be entitled to any mercy."

At the trial, the prosecution produced fingerprint, DNA, eyewitness and television evidence showing him opening fire and throwing grenades at Mumbai's main railway station in the bloodiest episode of the attacks.

Kasab -- who is in jail in Mumbai -- initially pleaded not guilty but later made a confession, admitting to being one of the gunmen sent by the banned LeT militant group.

He then reverted back to his initial denial and said he was framed by the police.

Pakistan has indicted 7 alleged perpetrators over the attacks but they have not been brought to trial, triggering Indian accusations that the process is a sham.

Pakistani investigators and lawyers will visit India next month to gather more evidence ahead of any trial in Islamabad.

Most death sentences in India are commuted to life imprisonment, and convicts can sit on death row for years awaiting a final decision.

Source: Hindustan Times, January 31, 2012

Georgia: Scheduled execution of Nicholas Tate postponed

JACKSON, Ga. — Georgia prison officials say they are postponing Tuesday evening's scheduled execution of a death row inmate for the 2001 murders of a woman and her 3-year-old daughter.

Georgia Attorney General spokeswoman Lauren Kane said the execution of Nicholas Cody Tate was postponed because he was planning to file an appeal.

Authorities say Tate and two of his brothers broke into Chrissie Williams' home in Paulding County and killed the woman and her daughter. The two other men are serving life sentences, but Tate was sentenced to die after prosecutors said he was the ringleader.

He exhausted his automatic appeals but initially refused to challenge the death sentence through habeas corpus appeals, which can last years. He waived his right to appeal at a 2009 hearing, saying "you caught me red-handed."

Source: AP, January 31, 2012

Man hanged in Zanjan, western Iran

Iran Human Rights, January 30: One prisoner was hanged in the prison Zanjan (western Iran) early this morning Monday January 30.

According to the state run Iranian news agency Fars, the man who was not identified by name was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to death by the revolutionary court in Abhar. 

No further details were given in the report.

Source: Iran Human Rights, January 30, 2012

Report: Saudi Arabia seeks swap for royals on Iraqi death row

Baghdad - Efforts to implement a Saudi-Iraqi prisoner exchange have taken on extra urgency after it became known that three people facing the death penalty in Iraq are members of the Saudi royal family.

Saudi Arabia has been pushing for the exchange of the six Saudi nationals, reported an Iraqi state-run newspaper on Monday.

Iraqi Lawmaker Kamila al-Moussawi told the al-Sabah newspaper that three of the six Saudi nationals currently on death row are members of the royal family.

Saudi Arabia's royalty, the Al Saud family, is composed of thousands of members, though power rests with descendants of Saudi Arabia's founder, King Abdul-Aziz.

'Saudi Arabia seeks a deal with the Iraqi government to exchange them with convicted Iraqis inside the kingdom,' said al-Moussawi, of the National Alliance, led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Al-Moussawi's announcement came a few days after Saudi newspaper Al Eqtisadiya reported that the proposed deal would cover 113 Saudi prisoners in Iraq, including six on death row, and 138 Iraqi prisoners in Saudi Arabia, of whom 11 are facing execution.

Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur, January 30, 2012

Related article:

Death Penalty News: Saudi Arabia, Iraq not to execute each other's ...

Jan 28, 2012

Saudi Arabia, Iraq not to execute each other's prisoners. JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia and Iraq have agreed in principle to put on hold execution of prisoners on death row in the two countries for at least two months until a final ...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Saudi Arabia: Convicted drug smuggler beheaded

January 30, 2012: In Saudi Arabia, a Pakistani man convicted of trying to smuggle drugs into the kingdom was beheaded.

The Saudi Interior Ministry said in a statement that Salman Khan Taj Mohammed was put to death for attempting to smuggle what it described as "a large quantity of heroin" into Saudi Arabia.

The state-run Saudi news agency SPA said he had confessed to the crime, was convicted by a court, and the death sentence was approved by the Supreme Court.

The report said he was beheaded in Dammam in eastern Saudi Arabia.

Amnesty International said Saudi Arabia executed 79 people last year.

Source: RadioFreeEurope, January 30, 2012

Two hanged for drug trafficking in Semnan, northern Iran

Iran Human Rights, January 29: Two prisoners were hanged in the prison of Semnan north of Iran today.

According to the official website of the Iranian judiciary the prisoners were identified as "M. J. " (49 year-old) and "H. A." (47 year-old) and were convicted of carrying more than 1100 grams of pure heorin and 6180 grams of concentrated heroin respectively.

The charges have not been confirmed by independent sources.

Source: Iran Human Rights, January 29, 2012

Iran: Guardian Council approves new penal legislation

Flogging in Iran

The Guardian Council has approved the Islamic Penal Code legislation, announcing that it does not contradict the principles of Shari’a or the Islamic Republic constitution.

ISNA reports that Parliament made necessary reforms in the legislation, and the newly approved law will replace the former.

Experts report, however, that the newly approved legislation remains unchanged in terms of penal sentences like stoning, dismemberment and execution of minors, and gender discrimination persists in many of its articles.

The organization, Justice for Iran, said in an earlier statement that approval of this legislation would worsen the already dismal human rights situation in Iran.

“After years of criticism from Iranian and international societies regarding numerous points of blatant violation of human rights in Iranian laws, the Islamic Parliament is on the verge of approving legislation that not only disregards all the aforementioned criticism but in some cases makes the situation even worse,” Justice for Iran announced in an earlier statement.

In recent years, Iranian penal sentencing has caused great outrage both in and outside Iran, with stories of women sentenced to stoning for adultery, and minors sentenced to death who are executed after reaching adulthood behind bars. The rise in the number of executions in Iran has drawn criticism from human rights groups, who have called on the United Nations to make every effort to pressure the Islamic Republic into addressing these issues.

Source: Radio Zamaneh, January 29, 2012

Nigeria to hang a man for stealing car radio

A Nigerian High court on Friday sentenced a car mechanic to death by hanging for stealing a car stereo back in June 2002.

"This is an offense of armed robbery for which I have no discretion. The penalty is death and I am not in a position not to impose it," said presiding Justice Fred of Oleh High Court in Delta State. "To this end, the accused person is sentenced to death by hanging in the neck until he is dead."

Prosecutors say the accused, Patrick Ekeh, along with two others, robbed a car stereo from Johnson Unuerho on June, 29th 2002, while armed, at Okpara Inland within Isiokolo judicial division, Vanguard Media reported.

Unuerho, a University Lecturer with the College of Education Warri, told the court that "he tip-toed to the window, opened the blind gently and saw the 1st accused person, Patrick Ekeh and another member of the gang now deceased before shouting for help."

No other information is given about the now deceased gang member or circumstances of his death.

The other accomplice, Gabriel Iyerowho, a driver, was discharged and acquitted.

About Iyerowho's acquittal Justice Fred explains, “I uphold defense of alibi of the 2nd accused persons. It ought to have been investigated by the police but was not. And besides, he was not one of those sighted by [Unuerho] when he took a peep through the window of his house and so no evidence fixing him at the scene and sufficient to dislodge the alibi raised by him."

How is it armed robbery when the victim peeped "through the window of his house" and is thus separated from the gun?

According to Nigerian law, under the Robbery and Firearms (special Provision) Degree 1984,armed robbery falls under two categories, both punishable by death:

1. If the offender is armed with any fire arms or any offensive weapon or is in company with a person so armed;

2. If the offender wounds or uses any weapon on any person at, immediately before or immediately after the robbery.

Those outraged with this verdict have already taken to Twitter with the #StopThisInjustice to make their voices heard.

"I don't care what their obsolete penal code says," tweeted Nedu. "That judgement is repugnant to good conscience!"

Online Nigeria News puts it this way: "When our politicians and so called leaders are stealing millions and chopping our subsidy money, a motor mechanic has been sentenced to death by hanging for armed robbery."

Source: Digital Journal, January 28, 2012

Mubarak urges world leaders to save him from death penalty

Egyptian daily reports ousted president sent nine letters to Arab, Western states asking to mount pressure on Egyptian authorities to release his family members, not sentence him to death. Susan Mubarak, the wife of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak sent nine personal letters dictated by her husband to a senior attorney, in order for him to deliver them to heads of states which had good relations with Mubarak, Ruz al-Yusuf Egyptian daily reported on Saturday.

In the letters, which were most likely addressed to the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Lebanon, the ailing Mubarak pleaded with the leaders to mount pressure on Egyptian authorities to allow his two sons, Gamal and Alaa – who are also facing trial – and his wife to leave the country without being sent to jail.

Mubarak also reportedly plead with American officials to dissuade Egyptian authorities from sentencing him to death, claiming that the current rulers of Egypt and his historic rivals – the Muslim Brotherhood – will not allow the court to acquit him.

The former Egyptian president is standing trial for his alleged involvement in the deaths of civilians during the uprising against him at the beginning of 2011. Mubarak is accused of involvement in the deaths of 850 protesters as well as charges of corruption and abuse of his power as the executive.

Mubarak's sons are also standing trial for alleged involvement in the killing of protesters as well as corrupt activities. Some allegations of corruption have been made against Mubarak's wife, but she has not been put on trial as of yet.

Source: ynetnews.com, January 28, 2012

Related articles:

Egypt: Prosecutor seeks death sentence for Mubarak

Jan 05, 2012

Cairo (CNN) -- Prosecutors in the trial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak formally requested a penalty of death by hanging for Mubarak and several of his fellow defendants Thursday, an attorney at the court said.

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Civil rights lawyers demand death sentence for Mubarak

Jan 09, 2012

"We merged our voice with the prosecutor's closing arguments from last week's hearing and demanded the death sentence to Mubarak, his former interior minister Habib El Adly, and four of his aides for killing hundreds of...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Death Penalty News: Mubarak trial to open next week, Egypt says

Jul 29, 2011

Cairo (CNN) -- Ousted Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak's trial on charges of corruption and ordering police to kill anti-government protesters will open Wednesday at a Cairo convention hall, Egypt's justice minister announced...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Man hanged in Ilam, western Iran

Iran Human Rights, January 28: One prisoner was hanged in the prison of Ilam, western Iran, today January 28.

According to the state run Iranian news agency ISNA , the prisoner who wasn’t identified by name, was convicted of murder and had once escaped from the prison by blowing up the prison wall.

Source: Iran Human Rights, January 28, 2012

Connecticut: Komisarjevsky denies blame as death sentence passed

A man convicted of murdering a woman and her 2 daughters in a 2007 home invasion has tried to deflect blame, as a judge sentenced him to die.

Joshua Komisarjevsky, 31, was ordered to face lethal injection after emotional statements from family members of the victims.

The crime shocked America and helped defeat a bill to abolish the death penalty in the state of Connecticut.

Komisarjevsky's accomplice, Steven Hayes, was sentenced to death in 2010.

The 2 were on parole for burglary when they broke into a home in Cheshire, Connecticut.

'Personal holocaust'

While Dr William Petit was tied up, his wife Jennifer Hawke-Petit was forced to withdraw money from her bank.

She was then raped by Hayes and strangled to death.

Hawke-Petit's 11-year-old daughter, Michaela, was sexually assaulted by Komisarjevsky.

Both girls were tied to their beds and left to die as the house was doused in petrol and set on fire.

The only survivor, Dr Petit, was beaten with a baseball bat and tied up but escaped.

He testified during Friday's sentencing hearing that the crime had been a "personal holocaust".

"I lost my family and my home,'' he said. "They were three special people. Your children are your jewels.''

Defence lawyers had argued that Komisarjevsky, convicted of sexual assault and murder in October, should be spared execution in light of the abuse he suffered as a boy.

But Judge Jon Blue disagreed and told the convicted man he had brought the harshest sentence on himself.

In court on Friday, Komisarjevsky acknowledged he had hurt many people, but insisted that he never raped the girl and had not intended to kill.

"They were never supposed to lose their lives," said Komisarjevsky, who will become the 11th man on Connecticut's death row.

"I know my responsibilities, but what I cannot do is carry the responsibilities of the actions of another,'' Komisarjevsky said. "I did not want those innocent women to die.''

During the trial, Komisarjevsky and Hayes blamed each other for escalating the crime.

Being condemned to death was a "surreal experience", Komisarjevsky added.

Talking about the penalty, he said: "I wonder when the killing will end."

They are not likely to be put to death soon, as both cases will be automatically appealed, a process that could last decades.

Source: BBC News, January 28, 2012

India: First death penalty in a drug crime case

In the 1st ever case of capital punishment in a drug crime, a special Narcotics court in Chandigarh has awarded death penalty to a person while sentencing an African national to 15-years of Rigorous Imprisonment (RI).

The court of Special Judge (Narcotic Drugs and Physchotropic Substances Act) Shalini Singh Nagpal awarded death sentence to one Paramjeet Singh for trafficking 10 kilograms of Heroin and supplying it to an African national Sestus Benson in 2007.

Till now the maximum punishment in drug crime has been RI and a heavy fine.

"Paramjeet was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on November 30, 2007 in Chandigarh's sector-39 as he was illegally delivering 10kg Heroin to Benson. What made his crime grave was that Paramjeet was out on parole granted by a Delhi Court in another drug trafficking case," NCB Special Public Prosecutor Kailash Chander said.

This is a 1st-ever case of capital punishment being awarded in a drugs trafficking case. Benson has been awarded an RI of 15 years and a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh by the court, Chander said.

NCB Zonal Director Rohit Katiyar confirmed the development to PTI and said the judgement in the case was historic and would act as a "deterrent in illegal drugs and crime cases".

"This is a historic judgement. The judgememnt will go a long way in curbing the menace of narcotics abuse in the country, especially amongst the youth," Katiyar said.

Paramjeet was earlier arrested by the agency in Delhi in 2005 and was granted parole by a Delhi Court and the Chandigarh court not only relied on this fact but also the NCB probe to deliver today's judgement under the Prevention of Illicit Traffick in Narcotic Drugs and Physchotropic Substances Act (PIT NDPS), Chander said.

Source: Hindustan Times, January 28, 2012

Saudi Arabia, Iraq not to execute each other's prisoners

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia and Iraq have agreed in principle to put on hold execution of prisoners on death row in the two countries for at least two months until a final agreement to swap prisoners is reached.

This was reported by local daily Al-Eqtisadiah on Friday quoting an official source at the Iraqi Embassy in Riyadh.

Muhammad Al-Obaidi, in charge of bilateral relations in the embassy, described the agreement to be only in principle and said no official papers were signed.

"This agreement in principle to put on hold execution of prisoners would automatically terminate when the two countries sign a final agreement to exchange prisoners," he said.

There are 113 Saudi prisoners in Iraq including six on death row after being charged with the crimes of illegally entering the country and carrying out terrorist operations there. There are 138 Iraqi prisoners in the Kingdom of whom 11 were sentenced to death after they were found guilty of carrying out terrorist operations in the country.

The Iraqi diplomat did not reveal when the two countries reached the agreement in principle but said that according to it, Iraq will not execute the six Saudi prisoners on death row.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the National Society for Human Rights Mufleh Al-Qahtani said the two sides were very serious in their intent to sign a final agreement to exchange prisoners, especially those sentenced to death.

"There are some procedural matters currently delaying the signing of the final prisoner swap accord but the agreement might be signed within the next two months," he said.

Al-Qahtani said the society recently received a delegation from the Iraq Embassy and discussed with it the affairs of Saudi prisoners in Iraq. "We have got serious and favorable response from the Iraqi side," he added.

Source: Arab News, January 28, 2012

Texas executes Rodrigo Hernandez

Rodrigo Hernandez

A man who had been paroled for an assault in Michigan when his DNA linked him to a years-old murder in San Antonio was executed in Texas on Thursday. 

The high court rejected a last-day appeal about two hours before Hernandez was set for lethal injection.

Rodrigo Hernandez faced lethal injection for sexually assaulting and strangling Susan Verstegen, 38, before leaving her body in a San Antonio trash can. Verstegen, a Frito-Lay worker, was stocking snacks at a grocery store when she was attacked in 1994, according to the Texas Attorney General's Office.

Hernandez's DNA wasn't matched to the crime until 2002, when Michigan officials took a sample from him as he was paroled and put it into a national database.

He died by lethal injection at a prison in Huntsville at 6:19 p.m. local (7:19 p.m. EST).

Hernandez said little in the moments before he died.

“I want to tell everybody that I love everybody,” he said. “We are all family, people of God almighty. We're all good. I'm ready.”

As the lethal injection took its course, he said, “This stuff stings man, Almighty.” His relatives there to witness the execution sobbed.

Hernandez is the second person executed in the United States this year following Gary Welch in Oklahoma in January, according to the National Death Penalty Information Center.

Hernandez is the first person executed this year in Texas, which executed 13 people in 2011 and has put to death more than four times as many people as any other state since the United States reinstated the death penalty in 1976, according to the center.

Hernandez told the San Antonio Express-News in an interview published this month he didn't kill Verstegen and will "take that to the grave."

But Verstegen's mother, Anna Verstegen of San Antonio, said this week she hopes Hernandez will, before he dies, feel sorry for what he did to her daughter, who left behind a 15-year-old son.

"It's never too late," she told Reuters. "We're just praying for him. The kind of God I believe in can forgive."

In 2010, Michigan investigators said DNA evidence linked Hernandez to the 1991 murder of Muriel Stoepker, 77, of Grand Rapids, but that he would not be tried since he was on death row in Texas.

Nationwide, the number of executions fell for the second year in a row in 2011, with 43 inmates put to death compared with 46 in 2010 and 52 in 2009, Death Penalty Information Center figures show. In 1999, a record 98 prisoners were executed.

Hernandez becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas and the 478th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1987. He becomes the 239th inmate to be put to death since Rick Perry governor of Texas in 2011; Perry has now been governor for exactly 1/2 of all executions in Texas in the modern era, since the death penalty was re-legalized on July 2, 1976.

Hernandez becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1279th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. 

Sources: Reuters, AP, Rick Halperin, DPN Staff, January 26, 2012

At death's door, condemned man confessed to 2 killings

Minutes before Rodrigo Hernandez, 38, was executed for the 1994 rape and murder of a single mother in San Antonio, he reportedly confessed to that killing and the 1991 slaying of a homeless woman in Grand Rapids, Mich., to a Texas Ranger, Michigan authorities said.

He agreed to talk to a Texas Ranger assigned to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Huntsville unit as the state prepared to lethally inject him Thursday evening, according to a Kent County, Mich., news release.

Hernandez was executed for raping and strangling Susan Verstegen, 38, but while he was on death row, authorities in 2009 determined his DNA matched evidence from the 1991 shooting death of Muriel Stoepker in Michigan.

Hernandez had retracted a confession he signed in 2002 in the Verstegen case and up until Thursday had denied killing either woman. He told a San Antonio Express-News reporter weeks before his execution date that he'd had sex with Verstegen the night of her death but claimed someone else killed her, although detectives had matched his DNA to evidence from the scene of the slaying.

Just before his execution, though, Hernandez “admitted to his involvement in the 1994 homicide of Susan Verstegen in San Antonio,” the Kent County news release states.

Stoepker, 77, was shot to death in a parking garage at Grand Rapids Community College.

In a recent letter to an Express-News reporter, Hernandez wrote that he'd paid Stoepker for a sexual favor that night but maintained he did not kill her. That story also changed as his execution drew near.

“Hernandez admitted he shot and killed Muriel Stoepker after he paid her for a sexual favor,” the Kent County news release states. “Hernandez claimed the gun he had in his possession went off accidentally.”

The Texas Rangers would not confirm the death-row confession Monday, but a Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman said Hernandez did speak to a Ranger before the execution.

Source: Houston Chronicle, January 31, 2012

Chinese court spares Filipino from execution

KIDAPAWAN CITY—A Chinese court has commuted the death sentence of a Filipino convicted of drug smuggling in 2008, North Cotabato Representative Nancy Catamco said here Thursday.

Richard Bianan, of Tulunan, North Cotabato, will instead be serving life imprisonment with a two-year reprieve after the Fujian Provincial Higher People’s Court downgraded his sentence for his good behavior and performance.

The commutation was confirmed by the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila in a text message by its spokesperson, Raul Hernandez.

Bianan has been imprisoned in Fujian since 2008 following his sentencing by the provincial court there for bringing in one kilo of heroin to China. Chinese authorities had forcibly extracted 91 capsules filled with heroin from his stomach in July that year.

In its verdict, the Fujian court had said it had no reason to doubt that Bianan should be put to death for his offense. But it downgraded the penalty based on the recommendation of the Fujian Provincial Jail Administration Bureau, Catamco said.

She said the Philippine Consulate General in Xiamen, China, also reported receiving a note verbale from the Fujian court that confirmed the commutation of Bianan’s sentence.

Catamco did not say when the decision was made but added that she was informed by Foreign Undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr. that it was in accordance with Article 50 of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China.

“The law mandates that anyone who is sentenced to death with suspension of execution and does not commit intentional crime during the period of suspension, shall receive a commutation of sentence,” she said.

The lawmaker said the foreign office would continue to monitor Bianan’s condition while in prison.

Source: Global Nation Inquirer.net, January 27, 2012 (local time)