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Trial by Fire - Did Texas execute an innocent man?

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The fire moved quickly through the house, a one-story wood-frame structure in a working-class neighborhood of Corsicana, in northeast Texas. Flames spread along the walls, bursting through doorways, blistering paint and tiles and furniture. Smoke pressed against the ceiling, then banked downward, seeping into each room and through crevices in the windows, staining the morning sky.
Buffie Barbee, who was eleven years old and lived two houses down, was playing in her back yard when she smelled the smoke. She ran inside and told her mother, Diane, and they hurried up the street; that’s when they saw the smoldering house and Cameron Todd Willingham standing on the front porch, wearing only a pair of jeans, his chest blackened with soot, his hair and eyelids singed. He was screaming, “My babies are burning up!” His children—Karmon and Kameron, who were one-year-old twin girls, and two-year-old Amber—were trapped inside.
Willingham told the Barbees to call the Fire Department, and while Dia…
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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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Iran: Three Hand Amputations, Four Hangings Carried Out in Qom

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NCRI - The Iranian regime's deputy prosecutor in the city of Qom, announced that the hands of three person accused of theft were amputated and at the same time four others accused of drug related crimes were executed in Qom central prison.
According to Iranian regime's radio and television news agency on September 21, deputy prosecutor called Younes Davoudi officially announced the above mentioned punishments.
It is noteworthy than in the month of June, two young men in Tehran accused of theft were sentenced by the 11th Branch of Tehran Province criminal court to have their fingers amputated.
“I was forced to resort to stealing to come up with money for my wife’s chemotherapy,” one of the accused said.
The defendants are Taghi, 30, and Parviz, 31, by their first names.
The state-run Rokna news agency interviewed one of the defendants whose wife is suffering from cancer:
Q: How many counts do you have?
A: Four counts of theft
Q: Why did you steal?
A: I didn’t have any money to…
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Iran: Woman Asylum Seeker Lashed 80 Times After Being Deported From Norway

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The Islamic Republic of Iran is to be blamed for the inhumane sentence of 80 lashes Leila received, but the Norwegian authorities have their share of responsibility in this case and must be held accountable for it.

IRAN HUMAN RIGHTS (20 SEPTEMBER 2017): The Iranian asylum seeker Leila Bayat, who was deported from Norway on 8 March 2017, has received 80 lashes in Tehran.
During the investigation of her asylum case, the Norwegian authorities didn’t validate the documents regarding Leila Bayat’s flogging sentence and denied her asylum.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director and spokesperson of Iran Human Rights (IHR) said, “It is a shame that the authorities of a country like Norway, which has a reputation of respecting human rights and in particular women’s rights, didn’t provide a woman who had escaped flogging sentence with asylum and deported her back to Iran. In this case, Norwegian authorities didn’t fulfill their legal and human duty, and in the best case scenario, deported her to …
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Trial by Fire - Did Texas execute an innocent man?

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Image
The fire moved quickly through the house, a one-story wood-frame structure in a working-class neighborhood of Corsicana, in northeast Texas. Flames spread along the walls, bursting through doorways, blistering paint and tiles and furniture. Smoke pressed against the ceiling, then banked downward, seeping into each room and through crevices in the windows, staining the morning sky.
Buffie Barbee, who was eleven years old and lived two houses down, was playing in her back yard when she smelled the smoke. She ran inside and told her mother, Diane, and they hurried up the street; that’s when they saw the smoldering house and Cameron Todd Willingham standing on the front porch, wearing only a pair of jeans, his chest blackened with soot, his hair and eyelids singed. He was screaming, “My babies are burning up!” His children—Karmon and Kameron, who were one-year-old twin girls, and two-year-old Amber—were trapped inside.
Willingham told the Barbees to call the Fire Department, and while Dia…
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Iran: Three executions carried out, two in front of large crowds

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A man was hanged in public as a large crowd of people, including children, watched.
Iran Human Rights (SEPT 21 2017): A man by the name of Ismael Rangerz was hanged in public in the city of Parsabad (Ardabil province) on murder and rape charges.
According to various state-run news agencies, the public execution was carried out on Wednesday September 20 in front of a large crowd of people, including children.
The judicial process for the prisoner lasted for a total of three months before his execution was carried out. 
Iran Human Rights is concerned that Ismael Rangers did not receive a fair trial.
The research of Iran Human Rights shows 33 people were hanged in public in Iran in 2016 and an audience of hundreds of people, including children, were present for most of these hangings. 
Human rights activists and informed members of civil society have always severely criticized this issue.



An unidentified man was hanged in public on murder charges Iran Human Rights (SEPT 21 2017): An u…
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Gambia: President Barrow Signs Abolition Of Death Penalty Treaty

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(JollofNews) – A few hours after delivering his maiden speech at the United Nations’ General Assembly, New York, President Adama Barrow of the Gambia has signed a treaty for the abolition of the death penalty as part of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The president also signed the treaty on the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the United Nations Convention on Transparency in Treaty-Based Investor-State Arbitration and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
“By signing of the treaties, the New Gambia continues to promote democracy and show the commitment of the state to protect lives of political activists,” a communique from the president’s office stated.
“This will remove fear and promote rule of law for citizens to express their civil and politica…
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Texas Child Killer John Battaglia Found Competent for Execution

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The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed John Battaglia's claims of incompetence late Wednesday, clearing the way for the state of Texas to put the Dallas child killer to death more than 16 years after his crimes. 
Over the past year, Battaglia's defense team and lawyers for the state have argued over whether Battaglia knows why he is to die and that his execution is imminent — Texas' two requirements for death row inmates to receive lethal injection.
In 2001, Battaglia shot his two daughters eight times in his Deep Ellum loft shortly after his divorce from his wife, Mary Jean Pearle. Pearle, in the midst of an attempt to get Battaglia's probation for assault revoked because her husband was harassing her on the phone, was on the phone with Battaglia as he shot their daughters, according to court testimony.
After killing the girls, Liberty and Mary Faith, as detailed in a 2002 Dallas Observer feature, Battaglia drove to an East Dallas tattoo parlor and got two ros…
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Two Myanmar migrants make final appeal in Koh Tao murder case

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Thailand's Supreme Court accepted the final appeal by Thai lawyers representing Myanmar migrants Win Zaw Tun and Zaw Linn, who have been sentenced to death for the murder of British tourists Hannah Witheridge and David Miller on Koh Tao island in Thailand.
The final appeal, which is 319 pages long, was submitted to the court on August 21 by the Thailand Lawyers Council.
In its appeal, the council pointed to evidence that Win and Zaw had been denied justice and fairness throughout the case and are innocent despite the death sentence, according to Myanmar embassy special representative U Aung Myo Thant, who is also a lawyer working on the case with the council.
He said they pointed out that Thai police violated standard police procedure in the collection of DNA evidence and phone records. The council said the police failed to carry out proper procedures in searching for DNA evidence, and they forced the two migrants to admit to the murder.
“We have submitted throughout this whole p…
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Judge warns death row inmate to keep Nevada's execution manual secret

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Scott Dozier faces loss of prison privileges in last months of life if he discloses death manual details.
While Scott Raymond Dozier, 45, waits for his date with death in November at Ely State Prison, NV, the condemned inmate and his attorneys were granted approval in court on Thursday to review Nevada's execution manual, according to KNPR and the Las Vegas Review-Journal. 
Eighth Judicial District Court Judge Jennifer Togliatti cautioned his lawyers, however, that she can sever Dozier's communication with people, outside of prison, if their client discloses prison information that is confidential and contained within the manual.
An agreement was worked out in court that permits Dozier and his lawyers to see portions of the execution manual that were previously redacted, the Review-Journal reported.
The manual's details are not available to the public. Judge Togliatti seeks to ensure that the inmate does not leak parts of the document to anyone - his fellow inmates, family…
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Seventeen Hanged in Various Iranian Prisons, One in Public

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Iran Human Rights has confirmed the execution of seventeen people in various Iranian prisons.
Iran Human Rights (SEPT 21 2017): A total of eight prisoners were reported hanged in various Iranian prisoners. Iranian official sources, including the Judiciary and the state-run media, have not announced these eight executions.
According to close sources, on Tuesday September 19, a prisoner was reportedly hanged at Khorramabad Central Prison on murder charges. The prisoner has been identified as Mohammad Haji Sabzali. Mohammad was reportedly arrested and sentenced to death six years ago. On the morning of Wednesday September 20, another prisoner was hanged at this prison on murder charges. The name of the prisoner is not known at this time.
According to the human rights news agency, HRANA, on the morning of Monday September 18, a prisoner was hanged at Broujerd Central Prison on murder charges. The prisoner has been identified as Hossein Dalvand.
According to the Kurdistan Human Rights …
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Iran: More Public Executions, Prisoner Hanged While Crowd Watched

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Iran Human Rights (SEPT 19 2017): A prisoner by the name of Samir Deivband was hanged in public in the city of Ilam in front of a crowd of people.
According to a report by the state-run media IRIB, the prisoner was sentenced to death on murder charges and was hanged in public on the morning of Sunday September 17. 
The IRIB report only identified the prisoner by the initials "S.D.", but local sources confirmed the prisoner's name to Iran Human Rights as Samir Deivband.
The research of Iran Human Rights shows 33 people were hanged in public in Iran in 2016 and an audience of hundreds of people, including children, were present for most of these hangings. 
Human rights activists and informed members of civil society have always severely criticized this issue.

Another prisoner by the name of Abouzar Ghadami was executed the day before, September 16, 2017, in Shiraz, southern Iran. He had been also found guilty of murder.

A young man identified as Davoud Hajizadeh was pub…
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