UAE | Pardon saves 2 Pinoys from death row

MANILA, Philippines — The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has pardoned three convicted Filipinos – two of them on death row due to drug trafficking, Malacañang announced the other night.

President Marcos had phoned and thanked UAE President Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Friday for granting his request to pardon the three Filipinos, Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Cheloy Garafil said.

In a statement, the PCO said it was Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos Jr. who first informed Marcos about the pardons late Thursday after receiving a message from UAE Ambassador to the Philippines Mohamed Obaid Salem Alqataam Alzaabi.

The PCO quoted Alzaabi’s message to Abalos as follows: “Good evening, Secretary. I am pleased to inform you that the appeal of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for three Filipinos, two of which are sentenced to death because of drug trafficking and one sentenced for 15 years for the crime of slander, has been granted for humanitarian pardon by our President H.H. Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.”

In two separate letters last April 27, Marcos asked Sheikh Mohamed to grant the three Filipino prisoners pardon.

During their phone conversation, Marcos also thanked the UAE leader for extending assistance to families displaced by the ongoing Mayon Volcano eruption in Albay.

The UAE has sent 50 tons of food supplies and medicines.

For his part, Sheikh Mohamed noted the valuable contribution of some 600,000 Filipinos working in his country.

Marcos told his counterpart he is thankful for their mutual efforts to strengthen bilateral relations and mentioned “the very good treatment of Filipino nationals in the UAE.”

Towards the end of their conversation, Sheikh Mohamed reiterated his invitation to Marcos to attend the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai (COP28) in December. Marcos in turn invited Sheikh Mohamed to visit the Philippines.

The invitation to visit Dubai was first relayed to the President by UAE Ambassador Mohamed during his courtesy call in Malacañang last week.

In an interview in Taguig City on June 15, Marcos said he is keen on attending the COP28 in Dubai from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12.

News about the UAE pardons drew elation from the OFW party-list group in Congress, with Rep. Marissa Magsino thanking Marcos for initiating the appeal on behalf of the three convicted Filipino workers.

“These highlight our efforts to protect the welfare of our workers on death row abroad. It is really important to provide them legal assistance to defend them and to reverse their sentence,” Magsino said.

She noted how much of a “life-threatening challenge” it is for OFWs to deal with the “risk of getting criminally charged [abroad], whether with factual basis or merely fabricated, and face the possibility of incarceration or meted with the death penalty as the penal laws of the host countries may impose, if found guilty.”

Magsino stressed the need for a comprehensive evaluation of the government’s support in the ongoing legal battles faced by Filipinos working overseas and ensure improved conditions if they are incarcerated.

This assessment aims to establish and execute immediate and enduring policies, as well as effective assistance programs, with the ultimate goal “to save their lives and to serve justice,” she said.

Source: philstar.com, Staff, June 25, 2023

_____________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW US ON:

CONTACT: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com

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

— Oscar Wilde

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.

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.'

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.

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.

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