Death Penalty News

Click here  to Google translate this article into your own language La colonia penitenciaria de Rikers Island está clavada en un trozo de tierra que emerge del East River. La única vía de acceso al enorme correccional es un puente desde el barrio neoyorquino de Queens. Lleva tres minutos recorrerlo con el autobús de la línea Q100. Es el tiempo que necesita Hannah para retocarse antes de dejar todas sus pertenencias en la taquilla y pasar a ver a su novio. Ahí estuvo ella encerrada antes por drogas. Al llegar al centro de visitas, un par de guardias suben e invitan a los pasajeros a dejar cualquier droga o arma antes de bajar. Al abrirse las puertas se siente un fuerte olor a queroseno. Todos se ponen en fila para que les olfatee un perro en medio del estruendo de los motores de los aviones que cruzan la bahía de Bowery en vuelo rasante hacia el aeropuerto de LaGuardia. El conductor del Q100 es la primera persona que encuentran los presos de Rikers cuando son puestos e...

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani continues to project himself as a defender of human and women’s rights, while evidence on the ground points to the opposite being true. The number of political prisoners being found dead in suspicious circumstances in Iran’s prisons is on the rise. The latest incident was the case of political prisoner Alireza Shirmohammadali, who was reportedly stabbed to death in the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary last week. A source told the Center for Human Rights in Iran that “prisoners in the ward said he had been stabbed so many times that he died before the prison guards got to the scene.” He was arrested on July 15, 2018, over messages he had posted on social media. Ambiguous charges were brought against him, including “insulting sacred religious beliefs,” “insulting the supreme leader” and “propaganda against the state.” The charge of insulting Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei can carry the death penalty. The Iranian authorities use such harsh penal...

NUR-SULTAN – Penal Reform International (PRI) is seeking to assist Kazakhstan in reforming its penal system, step up efforts to prevent torture and update detention facilities in line with international standards, said PRI Central Asia Director Azamat Shambilov. The organisation has been working for 30 years across 90 countries worldwide.   “There was one person, Ahmed Othmani, who was a former prisoner. He had been in prison for 12 years. He was sentenced due to his political views. Amnesty International gave him the status of a prisoner of conscience. When he was released, he started to work at Amnesty International fighting for human rights. There he met a woman, Vivien Stern, who has been working at Amnesty International for many years. They were visiting prisons to protect the rights of prisoners,” Shambilov told The Astana Times. A group of criminal justice and human rights activists founded the organisation in 1989 to ensure fair and effective criminal ju...

TOKYO -- With its bare cells, the Tokyo Detention Center looks much like a high-security prison, but most of those who get incarcerated here, including former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn, have not been convicted of any crime. Japan's system of refusing bail while suspects await trial, often for months, has drawn international criticism as "hostage justice." Foreign media got a rare tour of the austere, drab but orderly facility on Monday, but only of floors without inmates. Each solitary cell has only a toilet, folded bedding, a shelf and a sink. A window looks out into a bit of sky. Simple meals of rice and soup with a tiny portion of meat or fish are served from a sliding window. Ghosn, who spent 130 days at the facility over two separate detention periods, says he is innocent of financial misconduct allegations. He is out on bail, but 1,216 of the 1,758 current inmates have not been convicted and are awaiting trial. The solitary cells measur...