Bangladesh: 20 sentenced to death; HC urged to uphold 152 death sentences

Bangladesh Supreme Court

High Court urged to uphold death penalty of 152 BDR mutiny convicts

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam today prayed to the High Court to uphold the lower court verdict that sentenced 152 convicts for killing 74 people including 57 army officials in the 2009 Pilkhana mutiny.

74 people, including 57 army officials, were slain in the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) mutiny on February 25-26, 2009 at the force's Pilkhana headquarters in Dhaka.

In November 2013, a Dhaka court sentenced 150 soldiers of BDR, now Border Guard Bangladesh, and 2 civilians to death, and jailed 161 for life for their involvement.

It also gave rigorous imprisonment, ranging from three to 10 years, to 256, mostly BDR soldiers. The remaining 277 were acquitted.

A total of 844 people, 823 of them BDR personnel, stood trial in Bangladesh's biggest criminal case in terms of the number of accused and convicts.

Source: The Daily Star, November 30, 2015 (wr)

Cop among 3 to walk gallows for killing 9-yr-old boy

A Sylhet court today awarded death penalty to three persons including a sacked police constable for killing nine-year-old Abu Sayeed for ransom.

Judge Abdur Rashid of Sylhet Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal also fined the condemned convicts Tk 1 lakh each.

The convicts are Abdur Rakib, general secretary of Sylhet district unit Olama League, Ebadur Rahman, a sacked constable of Sylhet Airport Police Station, and Ataur Rahman Geda, a police informant.

The court also acquitted Mahib Hossain Masum, publicity secretary of the district unit of Olama League, of the case as allegation against him was not proved.

The convicts abducted Abu Sayeed, son of Andul Matin, on March 11 for a ransom of Tk 5 lakh and later killed him for recognizing the policeman.

On March 12, Ebadur confessed to the crime before a magistrate. 2 days later police recovered Sayeed's body from the attic of the building where both Ebadur and Sayeed resided.

Source: The Daily Star, November 30, 2015 (wr)

Munshiganj court sentences 2 to death, 2 to life in jail for 2009 murder

A Munshiganj court has sentenced 2 persons to death and 2 others to life imprisonment in the Riaz Byapari murder case.

District and Sessions Judge Md Shawkat Ali Chowdhury delivered the verdict on Sunday afternoon in a packed courtroom.

Those given the death penalty were Ripon Khan, 28, and Md Shamim, 26. The 2 who were awarded life in prison were Shah Jalal, 32, and Monjil Mia, 31.

The victim and the convicts, all labourers, were from the district's Gajaria Upazila.

After the verdict, Public Prosecutor Abdul Motin said only Monjil Mia was still absconding.

Quoting the case details, Motin said the convicts strangled Riaz to death on Mar 14, 2009 following a dispute. Riaz's body was recovered from a paddy field the next day.

His father Golboksh Byapari filed the murder case against the 4 on that day.

Byapari on Sunday expressed satisfaction over the verdict and called for speedy execution of the convicts.

Source: bdnews24, November 30, 2015 (wr)

Court sentences 4 to death for 2008 Boalkhali murder

A Chittagong court has sentenced 4 men to death and 2 others to life in prison for the 2008 murder of an auto-rickshaw driver in Boalkhali Upazila.

Chittagong Divisional Public Security Tribunal's judge Syeda Hosne Ara delivered the verdict on Monday on the 7-year-old case.

Those given the death penalty were Nurul Alam, Abul Kalam, Md Kausar and Md Rubel. The 2 who were awarded life imprisonment were Ariful Islam and SM Noimuddin.

Only Kausar and Noimuddin are behind bars. The 4 others are still absconding.

According to case details, on May 3, 2008, the accused hired the auto-rickshaw from the port city's Bahaddarhat to go to Anwara.

They murdered the driver 'Yusuf' and made off with the 3-wheeler. Yusuf's body was dumped on a road in West Gomdondi area at Boalkhali.

The vehicle's owner later found it in Satkania, where police later arrested 5 of the accused.

Yusuf's cousin 'Hashem' filed the murder case at Boalkhali Police Station.

Police named the 6 convicted on Monday in their chargesheet in the case.

Public Prosecutor Md Jahangir Alam said 17 out of 27 witnesses in the case had deposed at court.

Source: bdnews24.com, November 30, 2015 (wr)

11 get death penalty for killing Jubo League leader

A Gazipur court has sentenced 11 persons to death for killing Jubo League leader Jalal Uddin Sarkar in 2003.

Judge Fazle Elahi Bhuiyan of Gazipur Additional District and Session Judge Court 1 pronounced the verdict on Monday afternoon.

The court also fined Tk10,000 each.

Victim's elder brother Milon Sarkar said the convicts hacked his brother to death in broad daylight when he was chatting his friends at a field near Bolkhela Bazar in Kapasia upazila on August 17, 2003.

Later, Milon Sarkar filed a case against the convicts over the murder of his brother.

Source: Dhaka Tribune, November 30, 2015 (wr)

- Report an error, an omission: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com - Follow us on Facebook and Twitter

Florida executes Michael Tanzi

Florida on Tuesday executed a death row inmate described by one local detective as a "fledgling serial killer" for the murder of a beloved Miami Herald employee. Florida executed Michael Tanzi on Tuesday, 25 years after the murder of beloved Miami Herald employee Janet Acosta, who was attacked in broad daylight on her lunch break in 2000. Michael Tanzi, 48, was executed by lethal injection at the Florida State Prison in Raiford and pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. ET.

South Carolina | Man who ambushed off-duty cop to face firing squad in second execution of its kind

Mikal Mahdi, 48, who was found guilty of killing an off-duty police officer and a convenience store worker, is the second inmate scheduled to executed by South Carolina's new firing squad A murderer who ambushed and shot an off duty police officer eight times before burning his body in a killing spree is set to become the second person to die by firing squad. South Carolina's highest court has rejected the last major appeal from Mikal Mahdi, 41, who is to be put to death with three bullets to the heart at 6pm on April 11 at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia. Mahdi's lawyers said his original lawyers put on a shallow case trying to spare his life that didn't call on relatives, teachers or people who knew him and ignored the impact of weeks spent in solitary confinement in prison as a teen.

Afghanistan | Four men publicly executed by Taliban with relatives of victims shooting them 'six or seven times' at sport stadium

Four men have been publicly executed by the Taliban, with relatives of their victims shooting them several times in front of spectators at a sport stadium. Two men were shot around six to seven times by a male relative of the victims in front of spectators in Qala-i-Naw, the centre of Afghanistan's Badghis province, witnesses told an AFP journalist in the city. The men had been 'sentenced to retaliatory punishment' for shooting other men, after their cases were 'examined very precisely and repeatedly', the statement said. 'The families of the victims were offered amnesty and peace but they refused.'

South Carolina executes Mikal Mahdi

Mikal Mahdi, 42, was executed for the 2004 murder of 56-year-old James Myers A man facing the death penalty for committing two murders was executed by firing squad on Friday, the second such execution in the US state of South Carolina this year. Mikal Mahdi, 42, was executed for the 2004 murder of 56-year-old James Myers, an off-duty police officer, and the murder of a convenience store employee three days earlier. According to a statement from the prison, "the execution was performed by a three-person firing squad at 6:01 pm (2201 GMT)," with Mahdi pronounced dead four minutes later.

USA | Why the firing squad may be making a comeback

South Carolina plans to execute Mikal Mahdi on Friday for the murder of a police officer, draping a hood over his head and firing three bullets into his heart. The choice to die by firing squad – rather than lethal injection or the electric chair – was Mahdi’s own, his attorney said last month: “Faced with barbaric and inhumane choices, Mikal Mahdi has chosen the lesser of three evils.” If it proceeds, Mahdi’s execution would be the latest in a recent string of events that have put the spotlight on the firing squad as a handful of US death penalty states explore alternatives to lethal injection, by far the nation’s dominant execution method.

I spent 16 years in solitary in South Carolina. This is what it did to me. | Opinion

South Carolinian Randy Poindexter writes about the effects 16 years of solitary confinement had on him ahead of South Carolina’s planned execution of Mikal Mahdi , who spent months in solitary as a young man. For 16 years, I lived in a concrete cell. Twenty-three hours a day, every day, for more than 3,000 days, South Carolina kept me in solitary confinement. I was a young man before I was sent to solitary — angry, untreated and unwell. I made mistakes. But I wasn’t sentenced to madness. That’s what solitary did to me. My mental health worsened with each passing day. At first, paranoia and depression set in. Then, hallucinations and self-mutilation. I talked to people who weren’t there. I cut myself to feel something besides despair. I could do nothing as four of my friends and fellow prisoners took their own lives rather than endure another day of torturous isolation.

Louisiana | Lawyers of Jessie Hoffman speak about their final moments before execution

As Louisiana prepared its first execution in 15 years, a team of lawyers from Loyola Law were working to save Jessie Hoffman’s life. “I was a young lawyer three years out of law school, and Jessie was almost finished with his appeals at that time, and my boss told me we needed to file something for Jessie because he’s in danger of being executed,” Kappel said. Kappel and her boss came up with a civil lawsuit to file that said since they wouldn’t give him a protocol for his execution, he was being deprived of due process, and the lawsuit was in the legal process for the next 10 years.

Lethal Injection, Electric Chair, or Firing Squad? An Inhumane Decision for Death Row Prisoners

South Carolina resumed executions with the firing squad killing of Brad Sigmon last month. Mikal Madhi’s execution date is days away. The curtain shrieked as it was yanked open to reveal a 67-year-old man tied to a chair. His arms were pulled uncomfortably behind his back. The red bull’s-eye target on his chest rose and fell as he desperately attempted to still his breathing. The man, Brad Sigmon, smiled at his attorney, Bo King, seated in the front row before guards placed a black bag over his head. King said Sigmon appeared to be trying his best to put on a brave face for those who had come to bear witness.

Arizona | The cruelty of isolation: There’s nothing ‘humane’ about how we treat the condemned

On March 19, I served as a witness to the execution of a man named Aaron Gunches, Arizona’s first since 2022. During his time on death row, he begged for death and was ultimately granted what is likely more appropriately described as an emotionless state-assisted suicide. This experience has profoundly impacted me, leading to deep reflection on the nature of death, humanity, and the role we play in our final moments. When someone is in the end stages of life, we talk about hospice care, comfort, care, easing suffering and humane death. We strive for a “good death” — a peaceful transition. I’ve seen good ones, and I’ve seen bad, unplanned ones.

Execution date set for prisoner transferred to Oklahoma to face death penalty

An inmate who was transferred to Oklahoma last month to face the death penalty now has an execution date. George John Hanson, also known as John Fitzgerald Hanson, is scheduled to die on June 12 for the 1999 murder of 77-year-old Mary Bowles. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Tuesday set the execution date. The state’s Pardon and Parole Board has a tentative date of May 7 for Hanson’s clemency hearing, executive director Tom Bates said.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog