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In the crosshairs of conscience: John Kitzhaber's death penalty reckoning

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To cope with his dread, John Kitzhaber opened his leather-bound journal and began to write.
It was a little past 9 on the morning of Nov. 22, 2011. Gary Haugen had dropped his appeals. A Marion County judge had signed the murderer's death warrant, leaving Kitzhaber, a former emergency room doctor, to decide Haugen's fate. The 49-year-old would soon die by lethal injection if the governor didn't intervene.
Kitzhaber was exhausted, having been unable to sleep the night before, but he needed to call the families of Haugen's victims.
"I know my decision will delay the closure they need and deserve," he wrote.
The son of University of Oregon English professors, Kitzhaber began writing each day in his journal in the early 1970s. The practice helped him organize his thoughts and, on that particular morning, gather his courage.
Kitzhaber first dialed the widow of David Polin, an inmate Haugen beat and stabbed to death in 2003 while already serving a life sentence fo…

Saudi Arabia: Man Faces Execution After Grossly Unfair Trial

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Medieval and barbaric: Public execution in Saudi Arabia
Medieval and barbaric: Public execution in Saudi Arabia
A Shi’a man is at risk of execution in Saudi Arabia after he exhausted all his appeals. He was sentenced to death after a grossly unfair trial. He claims he was tortured into “confessing”, but his allegation has not been properly investigated.

Yussuf Ali al-Mushaikass, 42, was sentenced to death on 6 January by the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) in Riyadh, the capital, for offences that included “armed rebellion against the ruler”, “destabilizing security and stirring sedition by joining a terrorist group” and “participating in riots”. 

Following his appeal on 1 February his legal representative learned that the sentence had been upheld by both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

The case was later sent to the Ministry of Interior on 20 April raising fears that the sentence will be ratified by the King and Yussuf al-Mushaikhass might be executed at any time.

According to the verdict the SCC seems to have based its decision on signed “confessions” which Yussuf alMushaikhass claims were extracted under torture and other ill-treatment. However, the court did not fully investigate such claims. During the first three months of his incommunicado detention he was held in solitary confinement and interrogated repeatedly. He told the court that he was: subjected to sleep deprivation; hung from the ceiling and beaten with a bamboo cane and electrical cable on different parts of his body; and, handcuffed and forced to lay on the ground while he was severely beaten by four officers from the General Directorate of Investigation (GDI). Under international law, statements elicited as a result of torture, ill-treatment or other forms of coercion must be excluded from evidence in trial proceedings.

Yussuf al-Mushaikhass was arrested on 26 February 2014 in Ras Tanura City and taken to the GDI prison in Dammam, both in the Eastern Province. He was placed in solitary confinement and denied access to his legal representation throughout his interrogations. He is still detained in the same prison.

Please write immediately in English, Arabic or your own language:

-Urging the Saudi Arabian authorities to quash the conviction and death sentence against Yussuf Ali alMushaikass, given grave concerns about the fairness of the trial, and, if there is sufficient admissible evidence against him, to retry him in line with international fair trial standards without recourse to the death penalty;
- Calling on them to order a prompt, impartial, independent and effective investigation into his allegation of torture and other ill-treatment;
- Urging them to immediately establish an official moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 11 JANUARY 2017 TO:


King and Prime Minister
His Majesty Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud
The Custodian of the two Holy Mosques
Office of His Majesty the King
Royal Court, Riyadh
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Fax: (via Ministry of the Interior)
+966 11 403 3125 (please keep trying)
Twitter: @KingSalman
Salutation: Your Majesty

Minister of Interior
His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin
Naif bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud
Minister of Interior
Ministry of the Interior, P.O. Box 2933,
Airport Road, Riyadh 11134
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Fax: +966 11 403 3125
Twitter: @M_Naif_AlSaud
Salutation: Your Excellency

And copies to:

Minister of Justice
His Excellency Dr Walid bin Mohammed bin
Saleh Al-Samaani
Ministry of Justice, P.O Box 7775,
University Street, Riyadh 11137
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Fax: +966 11 401 1741/ 402 031

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION


Saudi Arabians in the Kingdom’s predominantly Shi’a Eastern Province have long complained of discrimination and harassment by the authorities. Inspired in part by protests that swept the Middle East and North Africa in 2011, they organized demonstrations to protest at the harassment, arrest and imprisonment of members of the Shi’a community for such things as celebrating Shi’a religious festivals, breaching restrictions on building Shi’a mosques and religious schools, and expressing
support for protesters in Bahrain.

The Saudi Arabian authorities have taken repressive measures against people they suspect of taking part in or supporting protests, or expressing views critical of the state. Protesters have been held incommunicado and without charge for days or weeks at a time, and some have said they were tortured and otherwise ill-treated. The security forces have killed at least 20 people connected with protests in the Eastern Province since 2011, and imprisoned hundreds. On 2 January 2016 Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was executed along with 46 other prisoners. He was one of scores of people sentenced to death in connection with the 2011 and 2012 protests. Three of them, who remain on death row awaiting execution, were arrested for offences committed when they were under 18 and have said that they were tortured to make them “confess”. One of these three, Ali al-Nimr, is Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr’s nephew (See UA 143/14, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde23/014/2014/en/ and UA 229/15, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde23/2671/2015/en/).

Court proceedings in Saudi Arabia fall far short of international fair trial standards. Defendants are rarely allowed formal representation by lawyers, and in many cases are not informed of the progress of legal proceedings against them. They may be convicted solely on the basis of “confessions” obtained under duress or torture. Yussuf al-Mushaikhass’ detention and trial have followed a similar pattern. After his arrest he was placed for almost three months in solitary confinement and denied any access to his family or legal representative. Throughout this period he was repeatedly interrogated and allegedly tortured to force him to confess. He was moved from al-Dammam political prison to the SCC in Riyadh to start his trial on 2 August 2015. He attended his first hearing alone. His legal representative was not even informed about the trial session and only knew about it when Yussuf al-Mushaikhass told him during their weekly phone call. He claimed that he was tortured during interrogations to force him to “confess”, and claims he was threatened with more torture before he was taken to court to verify his confessions before the judge. Although the SCC decided to sentence him to death based largely on these confessions, it did not properly investigate Yussuf al-Mushailkass’ claims of torture. According to the court verdict the SCC discarded all his allegations, relying solely on a medical report provided by the medical centre in the GDI prison where he had been detained and tortured into confessing. When his legal representative requested a counter opinion by an independent doctor outside of the prison, the judge rejected the request stating “this is all we have”.

The death penalty is a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty at all times, regardless of who is accused, the crime, their guilt or innocence or the method of execution. Saudi Arabia is one of the top executioners in the world, with more than 2,000 people executed between 1985 and 2016.

Source: Amnesty International, November 30, 2016

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Location: Saudi Arabia

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New Hampshire: More than 50,000 anti-death penalty signatures delivered to Sununu

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Organizers of an anti-death penalty coalition say they have delivered over 56,000 petition signatures to New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, urging him to sign a bill to repeal the state’s capital punishment law.
Sununu has vowed to veto the bill, saying he stands with crime victims and members of the law enforcement community.
Before presenting the signatures, the New Hampshire Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty held a news conference Thursday where family members of murder victims spoke in favor of repealing the death penalty.
The bill was passed by the House and Senate. 
It is unclear whether they have a two-thirds majority of votes in both chambers, which is needed to override vetoes.
Source: The Associated Press, May 17, 2018


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Texas: The accused Santa Fe shooter will never get the death penalty. Here’s why.

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The high school junior accused of gunning down 10 students and teachers at a Santa Fe school is facing a capital murder charge - but he’ll never face the death penalty, even in Texas.
Though Dimitrios Pagourtzis was charged as an adult and jailed without bond, even if he’s found guilty he can’t be sentenced to death because of a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. And in the Lone Star State, he can’t be sentenced to life without parole as the result of a 2013 law that banned the practice for minors.
“In Texas, after the Supreme Court’s decision, they passed a law that basically says that it’s a life sentence if you’re under 18 at the time of the crime,” said attorney Amanda Marzullo, executive director of Texas Defender Services. “The Court has said that it is cruel and unusual to execute an individual who is under 18 at the time of the offense.”
The Santa Fe High School student admitted to the mass shooting that killed 10 and wounded 10 others early Friday, according to court documents.…
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Texas executes Juan Castillo

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Texas executed Juan Castillo, who said he was innocent, for 2003 San Antonio murder
A Texas death row inmate was executed Wednesday — his 4th execution date in a year. Though advocates and his attorneys insisted on Juan Castillo's innocence, he lost all his fights in court and was put to death for a 2003 San Antonio murder.
Juan Castillo was put to death Wednesday evening, ending his death sentence on his 4th execution date within the year.
The 37-year-old was executed for the 2003 robbery and murder of Tommy Garcia Jr. in San Antonio. 
The execution had been postponed three times since last May, including a rescheduling because of Hurricane Harvey.
Castillo's advocates and attorneys had insisted on his innocence in Garcia’s murder, pleading unsuccessfully for a last-minute 30-day stay of execution from Republican Gov. Greg Abbott after all of his appeals were rejected in the courts. 
The Texas Defender Service, a capital defense group who had recently picked up Castillo’s cas…
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Mary Jane Veloso: The woman the firing squad left behind

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This week marked three years since Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed in Indonesia.
I’ve always disagreed with the death penalty and after witnessing it unfold, I’m dead set against it.
The Bali Nine pair were shot dead by firing squad on the island of Nusakambangan, 500m off the coast of Cilacap, in central Java.
I was at Cilacap port and still remember the haunting sound of gunfire, the sound of the death penalty.
I stood in disbelief, surrounded by a crowd of locals who had emerged from their concrete-floored homes.
How could these men who I had studied, whose families I had watched go through gut-wrenching pain, be gone in this horrifying way?
As a journalist, I flew to Indonesia to report the facts but the experience affected me deeply.
Chan and Sukumaran were arrested in Bali in 2005 for trying to smuggle heroin from Indonesia to Australia.
They were convicted drug criminals but they were much more than that. Chan had become a pastor and Sukumaran a pain…
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Five executed in Iran, two hanged in public

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2 prisoners were hanged at Urmia Central Prison and 1 at Ilam Central Prison, located in North-Western and Western Iran, respectively. All of the prisoners were sentenced to death on murder charges.
According to IHR sources, on the morning of Monday, May 14, 2 prisoners were hanged at Urmia Central Prison. 
The prisoners, identified as Khalil Agoush from ward 3-4 and Soheil Mirbakhsh from the youth ward, were both sentenced to death on murder charges.
It should be noted that Soheil Mirbakhsh had been held in prison since 2014 and he was under 25 when he was executed.
Moreover, another prisoner was executed at Ilam Central Prison on murder charges.
The prisoner was identified as Mojtaba Karamiyan from Ilam.
The executions of these prisoners have not been announced by the state-run media so far.
According to Iran Human Rights annual report on the death penalty, 240 of the 517 execution sentences in 2017 were implemented due to murder charges. 
There is a lack of a classification of murd…
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What Indiana officials want to keep secret about executions

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How much does the public have a right to know about how the state of Indiana executes people?
It is a question that, effectively, strikes at the heart of capital punishment. And it's the issue in a 4-year-old case in Marion Circuit Court that started with a public records request by Washington attorney A. Katherine Toomey to the Indiana Department of Corrections (DOC).
"If we win ... the Indiana public will know more about one of the most consequential areas of decision making that the state of Indiana engages in," attorney Peter Racher said in an interview.
The state, however, sees it as contrary to a state law limiting what the public can see pertaining to executions. The law was controversial because of how it passed. After midnight on the final day of the 2017 legislative session, it was added to a budget bill, two pages out of 175.
"The budget is now a death penalty bill," Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, said at the time. "There's been no public…
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Collection of items from the career of Britain's most famous executioner discovered

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A MACABRE collection of items from the career of Britain's most famous executioner has been discovered. The archive belonging to Albert Pierrepoint includes logbooks he kept on his hangings, with notes on the neck size of the condemned person and the height of the drop they required.
Pierrepoint performed over 400 executions between 1932 and 1956.
Now a number of his possessions have emerged for sale for an estimated 40,000 pounds.
Aside from the 2 chilling 'execution books', the archive includes a plaster cast of Pierrepoint's own death mask and hands taken after he died in 1992 aged 87.
His watch strap and a number of photographs complete the collection that has been owned for several years by a 'legal beagle' who gave lectures on crime.
Pierrepoint came from a family of hangmen with his father Henry and uncle Thomas both working in the trade.
The book which is now set to sell was also used by Henry and coldly lists the exact details of each individual execut…
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Post Mortem – the execution of Edward Earl Johnson

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31 years ago, on May 20, 1987, just before midnight, I was sitting in the witness area of the Mississippi Gas Chamber watching someone die in front of me. His name was Edward Earl Johnson.
I am both sad and glad that Edward’s final two weeks, right up to his agonising death, were recorded in Paul Hamann’s extraordinary BBC documentary Fourteen Days in May. Sad, because from time to time I find myself forced to relive that horror, when I watch the film at some public event; glad, because at least Edward’s senseless death has had positive repercussions – the film inspiring many to take up the battle for people in his precarious predicament.
Yet it irks me beyond measure that people who should know better use their position of power to prognosticate that the justice system never executes the innocent. For example, in a case called Kansas v. March, in 2006, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia loudly proclaimed that there is not “a single case — not one — in which it is clear that a…
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In the crosshairs of conscience: John Kitzhaber's death penalty reckoning

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Image
To cope with his dread, John Kitzhaber opened his leather-bound journal and began to write.
It was a little past 9 on the morning of Nov. 22, 2011. Gary Haugen had dropped his appeals. A Marion County judge had signed the murderer's death warrant, leaving Kitzhaber, a former emergency room doctor, to decide Haugen's fate. The 49-year-old would soon die by lethal injection if the governor didn't intervene.
Kitzhaber was exhausted, having been unable to sleep the night before, but he needed to call the families of Haugen's victims.
"I know my decision will delay the closure they need and deserve," he wrote.
The son of University of Oregon English professors, Kitzhaber began writing each day in his journal in the early 1970s. The practice helped him organize his thoughts and, on that particular morning, gather his courage.
Kitzhaber first dialed the widow of David Polin, an inmate Haugen beat and stabbed to death in 2003 while already serving a life sentence fo…
Read more

China: Appeal of nanny's death penalty sentence wraps up

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Defendant claims firefighters didn't try hard enough to extinguish blaze
The nanny responsible for killing 4 members of a family in an arson appeared in court in eastern China on Thursday to appeal her death sentence.
Mo Huanjing, nanny of the family of Lin Shengbin, pleaded guilty to starting the fire. But she said during the appeal at Zhejiang High People's Court that "the penalty in the original ruling was extremely heavy".
"The tragedy wasn't the result I wanted to see," she added. She said the efforts of firefighters were flawed. And she confessed to her offense during the initial interrogation, which could be regarded as a reason to earn a more lenient sentence.
Wu Pengbin, her lawyer, told China Daily that some firefighters and employees of the property management department of Lin's apartment attended the hearing as witnesses at his urging.
"I wanted them to show what they were doing at the time to the court, as I, with my client, thoug…
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