Death Penalty News

Tehran (AFP) - Four detained Iranian environmental activists could face the death penalty after the charges levelled against them were changed, the Tehran prosecutor said on Wednesday. "After completion of the investigation, the charges against four of the defendants have been changed to corruption on earth," said Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, cited by Mizan Online, a news outlet run by the judiciary. "Corruption on earth" is one of the most serious charges in Iran and can be punishable by death. The defendants were initially arrested on suspicion of espionage, but Mizan Online did not specify the charges that had preceded Wednesday's alteration. Indictments for eight environmental activists have been issued in total and "are ready to be sent to court," the agency quoted the prosecutor as saying. "The defendants had been notified of the charges," he added. The prosecutor did not specify the charges against the other four...

Sochi Olympic Site SOCHI, Russia -- An activist who shed the light on the environmental impact of Olympic construction in Sochi was ordered Wednesday to serve three years in prison for spray-painting a fence. A court in the regional capital of Krasnodar converted the suspended sentence given to Yevgeny Vitishko in 2012 into a prison term, according to his lawyer, Alexander Popkov. "We expected it and so did Zhenya (Vitishko)," Popkov told The Associated Press, adding that the ruling confirms suspicions that Vitishko is "persecuted for his activities." Vitishko and another activist, Suren Gazaryan, were found guilty in 2012 of "deliberate destruction of property" for spray-painting the fence of what they said was a local governor's property in a national forest where construction is forbidden. Both received a suspended sentence, but Gazaryan was later threated with additional charges and promptly left the country. He received political ...

China has introduced “harsher punishments” for breaking the nation’s environmental protection laws: reckless violators of pollution standards in the world’s biggest and fastest-growing economy now face execution. A new judicial interpretation taking effect on Wednesday has tightened Chinese “lax and superficial” enforcement of environmental protection laws, Xinhua reported citing a government statement. The government is set to introduce a “precise criteria for convictions and sentencing” while the “judicial explanation provides a powerful legal weapon.” Law enforcement should take environmental regulations seriously and “all force should be mobilized to uncover law-breaking clues of environmental pollution in a timely way,” the statement reads. Earlier this month the cabinet approved new measures to combat air pollution as social discontent over the air quality in urban centers continues to rise. To help tackle the environmental danger, Beijing has promised to focus...