Yemen: Houthis Sentence Baha'i Man to Death

Drop Charges, End Persecution of Religious Minority

Houthi authorities should drop all charges against a Baha'i man who was sentenced to death on January 2, 2018 because of his religious beliefs, Human Rights Watch said today. The Houthis should unconditionally release Hamed Kamal Haydara and the 6 other Baha'i men who appear to have been detained for practicing their faith.

The Houthis should cease all persecution of the Baha'i religious minority in areas of Yemen under their control, Human Rights Watch said.

The Specialized Criminal Court in Sanaa, Yemen, sentenced Hamed Kamal Haydara, detained since December 2013, to death on January 2, 2018, apparently on account of his religious beliefs and practice of the Baha'i faith.

"Hamed Kamal Haydara's persecution and death sentence are emblematic of the Houthis' broader attack on the Baha'i community," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Rather than continue these grave injustices, the Houthis should allow Haydara and other wrongfully held Baha'i men to return home to their loved ones."

The Specialized Criminal Court in Sanaa, the capital, sentenced Haydara to death on unsubstantiated charges of communicating with Israel and related offenses. Between April and October 2017, the Houthis arrested 5 other members of the Baha'i community - Akram Ayash, Wael Al-Ariqi, Walid Ayyash, Badi'u'llah Sanai, and another man. Keyvan Qadari, an Iranian national who was born and has lived all his life in Yemen, has been detained since August 2016, the last of 5 dozen Baha'is arrested en masse on August 10, apparently on account of their religion. All seven remain in custody.

Before the Houthis took over Sanaa in September 2014, Yemen's National Security Bureau arrested Haydara in December 2013 and held him in a detention center in Sanaa for nearly a year. Officers allegedly beat him and subjected Haydara to electric shock and other forms of torture and ill-treatment. He was held incommunicado for nine months before being transferred to Sanaa's Central Prison.

On January 8, 2015, the Specialized Criminal Court prosecutor issued an indictment against Haydara. The authorities accused Haydara of unlawfully communicating with Israel, but most of the charges against him related to his practice of the Baha'i faith. Haydara's lawyer told Human Rights Watch that the only evidence the prosecution presented in court to demonstrate Haydara had communicated with Israel was messages sent to all members of the Baha'i faith from the Baha'i supreme governing institution. This institution is based in Haifa, Israel, and has been the Baha'i faith's administrative headquarters since 1868, when the city was under Ottoman rule. The court claimed Haydara had confessed, but the sentencing hearing did not clarify exactly to what and its significance in the judge's decision, his lawyer said. Family members told Human Rights Watch in 2015 that while in detention Haydara had been mistreated and forced to sign documents without being allowed to review them.

During his trial, Haydara was prevented from attending a number of court hearings, including the January 2 session when his sentence was announced. The court found Haydara guilty of communicating with Israel and forging official documents, ordered the seizure of all his assets, and sentenced him to death, according to Mwatana, a leading Yemeni human rights organization that monitored the trial, examined court documents, and attended the sentencing hearing.

A month after sentencing Haydara to death, and despite repeated requests, Houthi authorities had not provided Haydara or his lawyer with a copy of the judgment or other critical files the prosecution put forward, which they requested to prepare an appeal.

Over the past 3 years, the Houthis have detained, forcibly disappeared, and abused scores of people, including perceived political opponents, students, journalists, activists, and members of the Baha'i community. While many people are held without charge or have been forcibly disappeared, others have been prosecuted in Sanaa-based criminal courts.

The Houthis have frequently harassed and arbitrarily detained members of the Baha'i community, which the UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief described as a "persistent pattern of persecution." Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Mwatana have repeatedly called for Haydara's release and an end to the persecution of Yemen's Baha'i community.

Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as an inherently cruel form of punishment. It is unique in its cruelty and finality, and it is inevitably and universally plagued with arbitrariness, prejudice, and error.

3 weeks after sentencing Haydara, the Specialized Criminal Court on January 30 sentenced a woman and 2 men to death for allegedly aiding the Saudi-led coalition, the Houthi-run Saba news network reported. The defendants, Saeed Mahfoud, Ahmed Abdullah Bawazir, and Asmaa Al-Omeissy, a 22-year-old mother of 2, had been forcibly disappeared, mistreated and subjected to a "patently unfair trial," Amnesty International reported.

"The Houthis should immediately release Hamed Kamal Haydara and all other members of the Baha'i religious community who are being detained for their religious beliefs," Whitson said. "They should quash the sentences of all those convicted after unfair trials and end the use of the death penalty."

Source: Human Rights Watch, February 27, 2018

⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.

Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Comments

Gov. Mike DeWine calls for Ohio to abolish the death penalty

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Gov. Mike DeWine Tuesday morning called on Ohio to abolish the death penalty, citing data that he said proves it is no longer a deterrent to violent crime. “For the state to take a human life, there must, in my opinion, there must be evidence that in doing so it will help protect the public, that the threat of that action will deter someone from committing murder,” DeWine said. “I do not believe that argument today can be successfully made.” DeWine cited data showing a decline in the last four decades of executions being carried out and an increase in the time inmates spend on death row.

I watched Ohio's last execution. Here's what it was like

As Gov. DeWine calls for Ohio to end capital punishment, the state’s last execution remains the one I witnessed in 2018 Inside Ohio's death house, there is a room for executions and separate witness rooms: one for those connected to the victim and another for those connected to the inmate. Windows separate the death chamber from those watching, the condemned from the living. I was there on July 18, 2018 – during Ohio’s most recent execution. Robert Van Hook was put to death that day for killing David Self in 1985. He sat on death row for three decades. I was one of three media witnesses to the execution.

Kansas AG urges governor to deny clemency to 8 sentenced to death

TOPEKA — Attorney General Kris Kobach on Tuesday urged the governor to deny clemency to Kansas inmates who have been sentenced to death. Eight of nine people sentenced to death in Kansas formally filed clemency requests in May, according to a press release from the Attorney General’s Office. Kobach urged Gov. Laura Kelly to reject them.

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a firsthand account of the final moments of Hamida Djandoubi, a convicted murderer executed by guillotine at Marseille’s Baumettes Prison on September 10, 1977. The record—dated September 9—was written by Monique Mabelly, a judge appointed by the state to witness the proceedings. Djandoubi’s execution would ultimately be the last carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. At the time, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing—who had publicly voiced his "deep aversion to the death penalty" prior to his election—rejected Djandoubi’s appeal for clemency. Choosing to let "justice take its course," the President allowed the execution to proceed, just as he had in two previous cases during his term: Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977. Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was execu...

New Mississippi billboard warns criminals: ‘Firing squad is legal’

DESOTO COUNTY, Miss. (WREG) — A billboard standing on Interstate 55 southbound as you cross the Tennessee state line and enter Mississippi from Memphis is sending a grim message to those coming into the state. DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton recently announced the new billboard campaign, which features the sign reading, “WELCOME TO MISSISSIPPI. WHERE THE FIRING SQUAD IS LEGAL. THINK TWICE.” It references Mississippi’s law permitting execution by firing squad under certain circumstances for inmates sentenced to death. Barton says this campaign is aimed at deterring violent crime and sends a direct message to criminals entering Mississippi.

SCOTUS: Alabama can’t execute Jeffery Lee by nitrogen; Thursday execution called off

After a week of legal volleyball, Alabama death row inmate Jeffery Lee’s execution—scheduled for Thursday evening—was called off after federal courts called the state’s nitrogen gas execution method “likely unconstitutional.” The state took the fight to the U.S. Supreme Court, hoping Lee could still be put to death tonight. In an order issued at 8:10 p.m., the U.S. Supreme Court ordered that it would not lift a ban on Alabama executing Lee via nitrogen . In a short court order, the justices denied Alabama’s motion to go ahead with the execution. Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch would have granted the appeal and let the execution proceed, according to the order.

With nitrogen gas blocked, Alabama seeks to execute inmate by lethal injection

Jeffery Lee, who successfully challenged his scheduled Thursday execution by nitrogen gas, argued that execution by firing squad would be less painful. The Alabama Attorney General’s Office Friday sought to put an Alabama death row inmate to death by lethal injection a day after the U.S. Supreme Court rebuffed the state’s attempt to execute him by nitrogen gas. In a filing with the Alabama Supreme Court Friday afternoon, the state sought an expedited motion to set a new execution date for Jeffery Lee, 49. The state said that with a permanent injunction in place against nitrogen gas, the method by which the state intended to execute Lee on Thursday, it could execute him by lethal injection or the electric chair.

Alabama | Judge bars nitrogen gas execution, says method is unconstitutionally cruel

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- A federal judge on Tuesday permanently blocked Alabama from executing an inmate with nitrogen gas after declaring it violates the ban on cruel and unusual punishment. U.S. District Judge Emily Marks issued the ruling hours after an appeals court reversed her initial finding that the method was constitutional. Marks permanently enjoined the state from executing Jeffrey Lee, 49, by nitrogen gas. He was scheduled to be executed Thursday. The decision, for now, blocks the use of the controversial new execution method that the state has championed since 2024, but the issue will likely end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Idaho will soon turn to firing squad executions. Police will pull the triggers

Trained members of Idaho law enforcement with demonstrated firearms proficiency are expected to fill slots for carrying out the death penalty by firing squad as the state prison system transitions to the controversial execution method next month. Six volunteers certified for no less than three years apiece through Peace Officer Standards and Training, or POST, will be recruited to ensure the Idaho Department of Correction is ready to comply with a state law that prioritizes shooting prisoners to death over lethal injection starting July 1. No one on the team may have faced disciplinary action over firearms, use of force, or related conduct over the prior year, according to new execution protocols the prison system released this week.

Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch wanted an execution that a Trump judge deemed illegal

The Supreme Court these days is generally in the business of helping executions go forward. But on Thursday night, the court did something notable: It told Alabama no. Even then, the court wasn't unanimous. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented from the refusal to let the nitrogen gas execution of Jeffery Lee proceed. What prompted the rare rejection? In line with the typical shadow docket practice, the court didn't explain itself. Nor did the dissenters, who merely noted their disagreement. But a deeper look at the case helps us understand why a majority of the court was unwilling to help the state this time.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog