Death Penalty News

Medieval and barbaric punishments: Public execution in Iran The families of prisoners facing imminent execution gathered in front of the judiciary’s headquarters in Tehran on July 26, 2017 to demand a halt to pending executions until Iran’s Parliament votes on a bill that would remove the death penalty for low-level drug-related convictions. Iraj Ghobadi and Kavous Maleki were transferred to solitary confinement in Parsilon Prison in Khorramabad, Lorestan Province, on July 20 apparently in preparation for their executions, a source close to the Ghobadi family told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). “Our argument is that Iraj and Kavous did not have prior criminal convictions,” said the source, who spoke with CHRI on the condition of anonymity. “Wait a little until the new law is passed and Iraj’s death sentence will change to life in prison. Don’t take his kids’ hope away.” The two have been on death row for the past five years after being sentenced in a trial...

Miyuki Ueta TOKYO -- The death sentence given to a woman convicted of murdering two men in the western Japan prefecture of Tottori in 2009 is set to be finalized after the Supreme Court upheld lower court rulings Thursday. The top court said in its ruling that the defendant carried out the premeditated and "cruel crimes based on firm intentions to kill" and she bears "grave criminal responsibility." According to the lower court rulings, Miyuki Ueta, a 43-year-old former bar worker, drugged truck driver Kazumi Yabe, 47, and drowned him in the sea in April 2009 and she drugged and drowned in a river electronics store owner Hideki Maruyama, 57, in October of the same year. Ueta, who owed money to both victims, maintained her innocence and the verdicts were based mainly on circumstantial evidence, including that Ueta was the last person to meet with the men before they went missing and she obtained sleeping pills beforehand. In coming to his decisio...

Anti-Ahok rally, Jakarta, 2012 Doctor accused of blasphemy sentenced to 2 years over FB post criticizing 212 anti-Ahok rally Another person in Indonesia has been sentenced to 2 years in prison over an incident directly related to the blasphemy case of former Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, who was sentenced to 2 years in May for blaspheming Islam. Shortly after the December 12 (2012) anti-Ahok rally in Jakarta, which saw an estimated 200,000 protesters take to the streets of the capital to demand that Ahok be immediately jailed, a doctor in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, named Otto Rajasa wrote a scathing criticism of the rally in a Facebook post. "The hajj no longer needs to be done in Mecca, as it is enough to go to Jakarta" Based on a description of the Facebook post by KBR.id , Otto wrote that the hajj (the pilgrimage required of all Muslims capable of it) no longer needs to be done in Mecca, as it was enough to go to Jakarta; the Holy M...

TaiChin Preyor A San Antonio man was executed Thursday night for killing a woman in 2004 after a last-minute request for a stay to the Supreme Court was rejected. TaiChin Preyor, 46, had been on death row for 13 years after a Bexar County jury convicted him of killing Jami Tackett, 24, in a drug-related attack. Preyor was pronounced dead at 9:22 p.m., about 20 minutes after a lethal dose of Pentobarbital was sent through the veins of both of his arms. In a brief final statement, Preyor said, “First and foremost, I’d like to say, ‘Justice has never advanced by taking a human life,’ by Coretta Scott King. Lastly, to my wife and to my kids, I love y’all forever and always. That’s it.” Neither Preyor’s nor Tackett’s relatives were present for the execution, just four journalists and some corrections officers. Preyor is the fifth inmate to be executed in Texas this year, and the 16th nationally, according to data provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice ...

In January 2014, convicted rapist and murderer Dennis McGuire was strapped to a gurney in an Ohio prison execution chamber and injected with the sedative midazolam and the opioid hydromorphone. McGuire's priest, Lawrence Hummer, who witnessed the execution, described what happened next. "Over those 11 minutes or more, he was fighting for breath, and I could see both of his fists were clenched the entire time. His gasps could be heard through the glass wall that separated us. Toward the end, the gasping faded into small puffs of his mouth. It was much like a fish lying along the shore puffing for that one gasp of air that would allow it to breathe." McGuire's death took 26 minutes, and protesters believe that the cause of his extended death was the drug that was supposed to ensure the execution was painless: midazolam. Midazolam slows brain activity, allowing for relaxation and sleep, according to the National Institutes of Health. It is sometimes us...

'The only evidence linking the appellants to the murder was oral confessions they allegedly made to police officers.' The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has granted freedom to 2 Barbadian men who were on death row for a 2006 murder. The Trinidad-base court quashed the convictions of Vincent Edwards and Richard Haynes, who had been in jail since their arrest in 2007, ruling that they could not be upheld because the only evidence presented by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was insufficient. The only evidence linking the appellants to the murder was oral confessions they allegedly made to police officers in separate interviews at a police station July 19, 2007, almost a year after Alleyne's shooting death. Their attorney, Queen's Counsel Andrew Pilgrim, had argued that the evidence was unreliable and, as such, the judge should have dismissed the case against the appellants. The CCJ considered whether a defendant may be convicted in circum...

The Supreme Court upheld the death sentence issued by the Specialist Criminal Court and supported by the Specialist Penal Appeals Court against 14 Saudis including a security man considered a traitor and 2 wanted militants on the "list of 23" in what is known as the Al-Awamiya cell. The accused are facing the death penalty due to their involvement in terrorist crimes in Al-Qatif, Saihat, Al-Awamiya and Al-Jash in the Eastern Province.  They carried out over 50 armed terrorist attacks on Al-Awamiya and Al-Qatif police stations and Al-Qatif Prison.  They also targeted several checkpoints and 20 security patrols. These resulted in the martyrdom of several security men and injury to scores. In another development, Okaz has learned that the Specialist Penal Appeals Court has upheld the verdicts issued by the Specialist Criminal Court against the members of a spy ring accused of espionage for Iranian Intelligence.  The verdicts include the death sentence ...

Parliamentarians should educate their constituents on the need to abolish the death penalty, said a human rights activist. Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (Madpet) coordinator Charles Hector said they should also convince their fellow colleagues and respective parties to take a clear stand on the abolishment of the death penalty. "Since the death penalty exists in the laws, the laws need to be amended or repealed. "So ultimately the final decision comes to the legislature, which is parliament and they have to pass the required laws to abolish it," he told the Star Online after a parliamentary roundtable session on the abolishment of the death penalty here on Wednesday. The session was arranged by the Parliamentary Global Action (PGA) group and opened by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said. Present were parliamentarians, civil society organisations and government officials from other countries....

House of Representatives, Manila, Philippines The death penalty bill is conspicuously absent from the list of 35 measures the Senate and the House of Representatives have agreed to prioritize in the second regular session of the 17th Congress. Leaders of the 2 chambers agreed on Wednesday to pass bills on tax reforms, traffic emergency powers and the end of endo, or contractualization, before the end of 2017, as well as to revise the 1987 Constitution and approve the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL). Not on the priority list is the bill restoring the death penalty, which has been passed on third reading by the House and one of the measures pushed by President Duterte during his State of the Nation Address on Monday. "We agreed to disagree on some things," House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez said at a press briefing. The meeting, attended by Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, as well as the majority and minority leader...

Southern and east Africa, the Middle East and south Asia persist with the most draconian approaches. 50 years after Britain's partial decriminalisation of homosexuality, in eight countries it can still result in death penalty 50 years after homosexuality was decriminalised in England and Wales, 72 other countries and territories worldwide continue to criminalise same-sex relationships, including 45 in which sexual relationships between women are outlawed. There are 8 countries in which homosexuality can result in a death penalty, and dozens more in which homosexual acts can result in a prison sentence, according to an annual report by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA). Southern and east Africa, the Middle East and south Asia persist with the most draconian approaches. Western Europe and the western hemisphere are the most tolerant. But Britain was by no means a frontrunner when it moved 50 years ago to partly decr...

A Peshawar High Court bench on Tuesday directed the Council of Islamic Ideology and attorney general for Pakistan to respond to a petition seeking its orders for the government to introduce a less painful mode of execution than hanging. Justice Lal Jan Khattak and Justice Abdul Shakoor extended a stay order against the execution of a death row prisoner, Jan Bahadur, until the disposal of his petition. The bench asked the CII to explain its viewpoint on the petitioner's prayer in light of Islamic injunctions. It also directed that the attorney general should explain the legal position on the points raised by the petitioner. Kept at the Haripur Central Prison, the petitioner has requested the high court to declare death by hanging un-Islamic and unconstitutional saying it is painful and against human values . He said Section 368 of the Code of Criminal Procedure stated, "When any person is sentenced to death, the sentence shall direct that he be hanged by ...

Halamish, Samaria, Israel Except for the U.S., the entire Western world got rid of the death penalty 20 years ago, but the justice and education ministers are desperate to bring it to Israel The heads of Habayit Hayehudi have launched a despicable campaign. Since the attack in Halamish they have been ranting and raving about the military justice system, trampling on the separation of powers and tweeting demands for the death penalty for the terrorist who was captured alive. “The murderers of children and families deserve death,” tweeted Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked. As if we weren’t talking about cabinet members, one the justice minister and the other the education minister, but rather a couple of unknown online commentators. Only two people have ever been executed in Israel. The first was an Israel Defense Forces officer, Meir Tobianski, who was convicted of espionage in a drumhead trial a month after the state was declared, even though he was innocent. The second was N...

Ten prisoners were reportedly hanged in prisons across Iran. Two of the prisoners were women. Most of the prisoners were hanged on drug related charges. Iran Human Rights (JULY 26 2017): Ten prisoners, including a woman, were reportedly hanged at Zanjan, Kermanshah, Mahabad, Noshahr, Babol, Gachsaran and Urmia prisons.  Most of the prisoners were executed on drug related charges. Two Prisoners Hanged at Zanjan Cenral Prison According to close sources, on the morning of Tuesday July 25, two prisoners were executed at Zanjan Central Prison on drug related charges.  The prisoners have been identified as Jalil Dadyarvand and Mohammad Ali Yari. "Jalil Dadyarvad was married and was the father of a three-year old child. He was sentenced to death on the charge of three kilograms of crack," an informed source tells Iran Human Rights. "Mohammad Ali Yari was arrested in 2013 on the charge of trafficking two kilograms and 100 grams of crystal meth and one ...