Three executed in Bahrain

<div style="text-align: justify;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy4msNTBH5ch86442X1hdULbc8riaS_Wvputth-3rruWx3FCMQQ9-es0sF6Q2bK6pqrIfrrZh3M9t7c3jzJLNIsQOZCMQ7YbMrWfIQDjyY0-aFd7tbOl1OOtPrN2-QxfpDpr9N9YB_Wv8/s1600/Death+Penalty+News.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy4msNTBH5ch86442X1hdULbc8riaS_Wvputth-3rruWx3FCMQQ9-es0sF6Q2bK6pqrIfrrZh3M9t7c3jzJLNIsQOZCMQ7YbMrWfIQDjyY0-aFd7tbOl1OOtPrN2-QxfpDpr9N9YB_Wv8/s400/Death+Penalty+News.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> Three men were executed by firing squad in Bahrain this morning (15th) according to the Attorney General.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The three men executed were Ali Al-Singace (21), Abbas Al-Samea (27) and Sami Mushaima (42).<br /> <br /></div> <div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Commenting, Maya Foa, a director of international human rights group Reprieve, said:</div> <br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "It is nothing short of an outrage - and a disgraceful breach of international law - that Bahrain has gone ahead with these executions. The death sentences handed to Ali, Sami and Abbas were based on 'confessions' <a href="http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/2017/01/bahrainis-protest-over-fears-for-three.html" target="_blank">extracted through torture, and the trial an utter sham</a>.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "It would be shameful if the UK continued to support Bahrain's security apparatus and Ministry of Interior in the face of such terrible abuses. The British Government must urgently review its close relations with the Kingdom, and make clear that it condemns these appalling crimes."</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "The execution of these torture victims was made possible by various actors in Bahrain's criminal justice system, and the UK is providing assistance to all of them. In the last four years, the UK government has paid more than 5 million pounds to train Bahraini police officers, prosecutors, judges, prison guards in the death row prison where these men were held, and a supposedly 'independent' torture watchdog which declared one of these men was lying about his torture allegations without ever conducting a medical examination.”</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The three men are the first people executed in Bahrain since <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde11/003/2010/en/" target="_blank">2010</a>, and the first Bahrainis executed since <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde11/007/1996/en/" target="_blank">1996</a>. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The execution came less than a week after Bahrain's highest court <a href="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press/three-executions-bahrain-imminent-without-urgent-action/" target="_blank">upheld</a> their death sentence on Monday 9 January 2017. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> There are now concerns about two other men on Bahrain's death row who are also at imminent risk of execution, <a href="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/case-study/mohammed-ramadan/" target="_blank">Mohammed Ramadan</a> and Husain Moosa. Both say they were tortured into providing false confessions at the same police station as the three men who were executed today.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Torture</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The executions went ahead despite serious concerns that their convictions were based on evidence obtained under torture.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> A UN Special Rapporteur, Dr Agnes Callamard, has called them “<a href="https://twitter.com/agnescallamard" target="_blank">extrajudicial killings”</a>.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> During his police interrogation, Mr Mushaima was beaten, electrocuted and sexually assaulted. Although he was illiterate, he was forced to sign a document that he could not read.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Mr al-Samea, a school teacher, was also tortured during his interrogation, including electric shocks to his genitals and suspending him from the ceiling. He was sentenced to death even though his school provided an alibi letter.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The third man, Ali al-Singace, was just a teenager when he was convicted in absentia. His mother says he was also tortured into making a false confession after police arrested him.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Their families were summoned to Bahrain's Jau prison on Saturday for their final visit, although jail authorities refused to tell them that this was what was happening. They describe being surrounded by over 50 police officers and heightened security procedures at Jau.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> UK complicity</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The UK Foreign Office has spent over £5 million in aid money on reforming Bahrain's human rights record since protests swept the Gulf kingdom in 2011.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> However, Reprieve has evidence that this aid program failed to protect the three men from torture and execution, and actually contributed to their abuse.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Documents obtained by Reprieve, and reported in the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jan/14/uk-links-bahrain-torture-prisons-yarls-wood" target="_blank">Observer</a> today, reveal that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jan/14/uk-links-bahrain-torture-prisons-yarls-wood" target="_blank">Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons</a> helped plan inspections of custody facilities in Bahrain, including the CID station where all three men were tortured (both before and after the inspection.) The six-page inspection report failed to mention their allegations of torture.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Bahrain's police has received repeated training from the UK's <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2016/aug/29/british-police-criticised-for-lack-of-transparency-in-bahrain-training-deal" target="_blank">College of Policing</a>, which refuses to publish full details about its work.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Hundreds of prison guards at the death row jail where the executed men were detained have been trained by a Stormont-owned body, <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/ni-company-urged-to-stop-training-bahrain-security-forces-1.2811018" target="_blank">Northern Ireland Co-operation Overseas</a> (NI-CO).</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> NI-CO also trained two oversight institutions in Bahrain, an Ombudsman and a <a href="http://bna.bh/portal/en/news/656189">Special Investigations Unit</a>, which rejected Mr al-Samea's torture complaint without conducting a proper investigation.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> ➤ Reprieve’s research into UK support for Bahrain is available <a href="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/BelfastToBahrain.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>, while further detail about the cases is available on request.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> ➤ A pre-recorded video interview of Ali al-Singace's mother is available on request</div> </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Source: Reprieve, January 15, 2017</div> <div> <br /> <br /> <h2> Boris Johnson's Bahrain response 'woefully inadequate' - Reprieve</h2> <br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> International human rights organization Reprieve has criticised the response of the UK Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, to Bahrain's execution this morning of three men . </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The three men, Ali Al-Singace (21), Abbas Al-Samea (27) and Sami Mushaima (42), were executed by firing squad after being convicted on the basis of forced 'confessions'. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> A <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/15/bahrain-three-men-death-sentence-shia-muslims-gulf" target="_blank">statement</a> from the Foreign Secretary did not confirm whether the Government took steps to prevent the executions. The statement also did not address concerns, raised by Reprieve, over the risk of UK complicity in the executions and other abuses such as torture. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Mr Johnson said: "The UK is firmly opposed to the death penalty, and it is our longstanding position to oppose capital sentences in all circumstances. The Bahraini authorities are fully aware of our position and I have raised the issue with the Bahraini Government."</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The UK Foreign Office has spent over £5 million in aid money on reforming Bahrain's human rights record since protests swept the Gulf kingdom in 2011. Reprieve has gathered information that suggests the assistance programme failed to protect the three men from torture.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Commenting, Maya Foa, a director of international human rights group Reprieve, said:</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "The UK is one of Bahrain's biggest backers - last year Boris Johnson's Department oversaw £2m of support to the Kingdom's prisons and wider criminal justice system. Unfortunately, the Bahraini bodies trained by the UK repeatedly failed to properly investigate appalling torture allegations lodged by the men who were executed today. Given this fact - and the grave miscarriages of justice that have taken place today - the Foreign Secretary's statement is woefully inadequate. It fails even to confirm whether HMG had opposed the imminent executions during recent high level meetings with Bahraini officials.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "The Government should immediately suspend its involvement with Bahrain's criminal justice system and Ministry of Interior, and make clear to the Kingdom's leaders that the UK unequivocally condemns its actions."</div> <br /> Source: Reprieve, January 15, 2017<br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: center;"> ⚑ | 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: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div> <br /> <table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody> <tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div> </td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <div style="text-align: center;"> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <br /> <b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Three executed in Bahrain

Three men were executed by firing squad in Bahrain this morning (15th) according to the Attorney General. The three men executed were...

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Virginia: Decision on delaying Ricky Gray's Jan. 18 execution to come no later than next week

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSkkpFCGqjmIPN4lj4W02kAS1qMbe05Z8CooL7Z1mVBrEpBR78cXBUsHkXQ7aDpHQPvJ893H4uep8vgv3XP_9lIs6Z8pIRiEm0B33Io2r8Nq4PE6f0SEIh_k_HGt0HT6LxcUYVL4M2Yi0/s1600/Midazolam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Midazolam" border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSkkpFCGqjmIPN4lj4W02kAS1qMbe05Z8CooL7Z1mVBrEpBR78cXBUsHkXQ7aDpHQPvJ893H4uep8vgv3XP_9lIs6Z8pIRiEm0B33Io2r8Nq4PE6f0SEIh_k_HGt0HT6LxcUYVL4M2Yi0/s400/Midazolam.jpg" title="Midazolam" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A federal judge on Tuesday said he will decide within a week whether to delay Ricky Javon Gray's scheduled Jan. 18 execution over concerns about drugs the state intends to use if Gray dies by injection.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midazolam" target="_blank">Midazolam</a>, a sedative, and potassium chloride, which stops the heart, are the 1st and 3rd drugs used in Virginia's 3-drug procedure. The drugs were made by a compounding pharmacy and not by pharmaceutical manufacturers, which no longer provide drugs to states for executions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state strongly disputes that the compounded drugs - tested by a state laboratory and made by a licensed Virginia pharmacy and pharmacist - are anything less than suitable for use in an execution. The alleged problems are "wholly speculative," said Margaret Hoehl O'Shea with the state Attorney General's Office.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Under state law, Gray must choose execution by injection or electrocution by 15 days prior to the execution date. If he refuses to select a method, state law makes lethal injection the default method.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Virginia Department of Corrections did not immediately respond Tuesday when asked if Gray had made a choice.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gray's lawyers also contend death in the state's electric chair is cruel and unusual punishment. And they claim the use of compounded drugs have contributed to botched executions elsewhere and unnecessarily increase the risk of "chemical torture."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They are asking U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson - who heard more than 4 hours of testimony and argument Tuesday - to delay the execution so they can better make their case.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An expert testified for Gray on Tuesday that execution by firing squad presents less risk of cruel and unusual punishment than Virginia's proposed injection procedure.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gray was sentenced to die for the New Year's Day 2006 slayings of sisters Ruby Harvey, 4, and Stella Harvey, 9. He also killed their parents, Bryan Harvey, 49, and Kathryn Harvey, 39, in their South Richmond home, which was set on fire.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Less than a week later, Gray and accomplice Ray Dandridge, 39, killed Ashley Baskerville, 21, who had been a lookout when Gray killed the Harveys; Baskerville's mother, Mary Tucker, 47; and stepfather, Percyell Tucker, 55, in their Richmond home.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">O'Shea, in her closing argument, told the judge that what Gray did was a nightmare for the community, the Harvey family and the 2 little girls.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lisa Fried, 1 of Gray's lawyers, asked the judge not to call off the execution, but to delay it so Gray's concerns can be fully aired.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In response to a question from Hudson, Fried conceded the Constitution does not require a pain-free execution. But she said that while the public has an interest in seeing that sentences are carried out, everyone in the state has an interest in making sure executions are carried out constitutionally.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An expert, pharmacist Larry Sasich, testified that the testing performed by the state on the compounded drugs - to identify them and ascertain their potency - was inadequate. They should also been tested for sterility, acidity, and to see if there are any particulates in the solutions, which are injected into the inmate via an intravenous line.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Asked by Fried how likely it was that the use of a compounded drug would lead to pain and suffering, Sasich said, "It is more likely compared to the use of an FDA-approved product."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, a state expert pharmacist, Daniel Buffington, said the compounding of such drugs by pharmacies is common in the industry. "It's done routinely," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Buffington said he was not aware of any botched execution caused by midazolam. He said the problems that he was aware of were caused by the drug's administration.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dr. Jonathan Groner testified there was less risk of pain in an execution by firing squad, which would be almost instantaneous if done properly, than in one using midazolam. Virginia has not used the firing squad, although Utah has twice since the death penalty was allowed to resume in 1976.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A Department of Corrections official testified that no employees were trained to conduct a firing squad, there was no facility in which to do so, and the General Assembly would have to change the law to permit that form of execution. He conceded under cross-examination that prison employees are trained in the use of firearms.</div><br />Source: The Roanoke Times, January 3, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Virginia: Decision on delaying Ricky Gray's Jan. 18 execution to come no later than next week

A federal judge on Tuesday said he will decide within a week whether to delay Ricky Javon Gray's scheduled Jan. 18 execution over concer...

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Problems Remain in China’s Death-Penalty System Even After Reforms

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipBLE0Ug4Rfnnz6Yqs197-3pi8iISWLeqJuAH5jDdKjETU-j2vNl7wWe1lMmgTVy4XMgi1ae5Ut_-g8RBdsCZfLVSf6ag5yU5m5jy8K_20bArHZiQbTwK1CVRbJoXcYHOG5uVgMkC9crA/s1600/executing+drug+trafickers+in+China.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Chinese death-row inmates" border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipBLE0Ug4Rfnnz6Yqs197-3pi8iISWLeqJuAH5jDdKjETU-j2vNl7wWe1lMmgTVy4XMgi1ae5Ut_-g8RBdsCZfLVSf6ag5yU5m5jy8K_20bArHZiQbTwK1CVRbJoXcYHOG5uVgMkC9crA/s400/executing+drug+trafickers+in+China.jpg" title="Chinese death-row inmates" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chinese death-row inmates are marched to a nearby execution ground<br />where they will be put to death by firing squad.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">(Beijing) — Lai Changxing, the kingpin of a multibillion-dollar smuggling ring in the coastal city of Xiamen and once dubbed “China’s most-wanted fugitive” by state media, was given only a life sentence by a Chinese court in 2012, although more than a dozen of his accomplices had been executed by firing squad a decade earlier.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lai's network smuggled products as diverse as cigarettes, cars, oil and textiles. But the 58-year-old was able to literally dodge a bullet after Chinese authorities agreed to drop the death sentence in his case after a 12-year-long extradition battle with Canada.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Critics say Lai’s sentencing highlights the uneven implementation of the death penalty, which is used by government-controlled courts as a means to deter crime — often at the expense of justice.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Amid mounting international pressure and rising public discontent at home over its widespread use of the death penalty, China’s top court has taken a series of steps to reform the system of capital punishment in the past decade.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chinese academics estimate the number of death sentences handed down has dropped sharply since 2007, after the Supreme People’s Court took over the system of reviewing these verdicts that was earlier left in the hands of provincial-level courts. Yet legal reformists say more changes are needed to avoid possible wrongful convictions. They point out that the review happens behind closed doors, often without the presence of defense lawyers, and so are calling for open court-style hearings instead of allowing a small group of Supreme People’s Court judges to have the final say.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The defense lawyer’s voice must be heard during these reviews because they can make or break a life,” said Zhang Qingsong, a founding partner at Beijing’s Shangquan Law Office.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Under the current system, a person who is sentenced to death by a local court can appeal the verdict to a high court at the provincial or regional level. A death sentence upheld by a high court is then referred to the Supreme People’s Court for review.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This review process works as follows: A judge from a lower court wanting to give out a death sentence must first file an application with a three-judge panel at the Supreme People’s Court, and the panel then produces a review report either approving the verdict or disapproving it. This is then referred to a deputy president of the Supreme People’s Court for approval. Next it is submitted to an internal trial committee for the final decision, explained a Supreme People’s Court official who asked not to be named.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The public does not have access to information about the workings of this internal trial committee, which is composed of an unknown number of Supreme Court judges.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Once a death sentence is upheld, the president of the Supreme Court will issue an execution order that has to be carried out by a lower court within seven days.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But despite its lack of transparency, the current review process is a far cry from the system that existed before 2007.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: justify;">'Strike Hard'</h3><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">China’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress, had decentralized the review system in the 1980s, allowing provincial and regional high courts to have a final say on cases involving capital punishment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The move was part of the “strike hard” anti-crime campaign launched nationwide amid a noticeable uptick in serious felonies such as murder, rape, armed robberies and arson attacks in the earlier years of the country’s reform and opening-up.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">During this period, judges — many of them former police officers or demobilized soldiers without legal training — were ordered by the Communist Party to be severe. They were often told to expedite trials or to give harsh punishments, well above those prescribed in the penal code, for the sake of “maintaining social order.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The decision to decentralize reviews had eroded the credibility of the review system and the public no longer trusted it as the last resort to address potential miscarriages of justice, according to legal experts, including Li Hongjiang, a Supreme Court judge.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">During this period, “the review system was made meaningless and toothless because a provincial or regional high court is unlikely to change a death sentence it had already upheld in a subsequent review,” Li wrote in 2007, in an article published by the People’s Judicature, a journal affiliated to the Supreme Court.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The string of death sentences overturned and pronounced as wrongful convictions in recent years were all reviewed and given the green light by provincial or regional courts in the 1980s and ’90s.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmXXPzXUGrbie2ljiPK4S3QD1liVYSwNhewhrmHe750Z43rTSvVTURHdFbaOrJa4RlYmyTQxwyadTdLWPDVaCb_VLPSPP-uTZkIMDCs-4nSeiy4cGFY2BQvcQ3dHrOyOItu15e_WtBtgU/s1600/Nie+Shubin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Nie Shubin" border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmXXPzXUGrbie2ljiPK4S3QD1liVYSwNhewhrmHe750Z43rTSvVTURHdFbaOrJa4RlYmyTQxwyadTdLWPDVaCb_VLPSPP-uTZkIMDCs-4nSeiy4cGFY2BQvcQ3dHrOyOItu15e_WtBtgU/s400/Nie+Shubin.jpg" title="Nie Shubin" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exonerated Nie Shubin, "hastily executed" during the "strike hard" campaign</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">The latest example is <a href="http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.fr/search/label/Nie%20Shubin" target="_blank">the exoneration of Nie Shubin</a>, 21, from Hebei province, who was executed after being convicted of the rape and murder of a young woman in 1995.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nie was arrested, given a death sentence and hastily executed, largely based on evidence extracted via a forced confession when the “strike hard” campaign was in full force, court documents show.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But after an alleged serial rapist, arrested over a similar crime in the central province of Henan a decade later, confessed to killing the victim in Nie’s case, the previous verdict was put into doubt.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It took Nie’s family another 10 years to petition various judicial authorities and courts before a retrial was granted by the Supreme Court in June, and Nie’s name was cleared in early December 2016.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Hebei Provincial People’s High Court, which upheld Nie’s death sentence during an appeal on April 25, 1995, was also in charge of the final review on the verdict. It gave the go-ahead to the execution in a review completed just two days after the appeal.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The number on death row in China is a closely guarded state secret. But the number of death sentences given out has dropped sharply after the Supreme Court took charge of all reviews in 2007, down from tens of thousands to several thousand, according to estimates by Chinese academics.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The number of executions each year has also declined from five-digit figures to a several thousand as a result.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Chinese government had previously argued that the number on death row was small given China’s large population. But fewer than 40 people are sentenced to death every year in India, a country with a comparable population, according to Zhao Bingzhi, president of the College for Criminal Law Science at Beijing Normal University.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2016, 30 people were sentenced to death in the United States as of November, one-tenth of the 315 capital punishment verdicts in 1996, according to Washington-based rights group Death Penalty Information Center. There were only 20 executions in the U.S. in 2016.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">China's widespread use of capital punishment remains a stumbling block when the country negotiates bilateral extradition treaties with many Western nations such as the U.S and Canada, where most Chinese fugitives are in hiding. This has hampered the anti-corruption campaign launched by President Xi Jinping in 2012.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Only a handful of developed nations, including Spain and France, are among the approximately 40 countries that have signed extradition treaties with China, government data showed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: justify;">Going Easy on the Noose</h3><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In addition to the decision to centralize the review process in 2007 by making the Supreme Court in Beijing the sole body to green light death sentences, the court also removed 22 crimes from the list of 68 capital offenses, including many white-collar financial crimes, in 2011 and 2014.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a document the court released in August 2007, lower courts were also told to “exercise caution” when giving death sentences to people who have killed a spouse over a marital dispute or in confrontations with neighbors, if they have shown remorse and adequately compensated the other party.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This stealthy reform process has cut down the number of death sentences by half and even two-thirds in some regions, according to professor Chen Guangzhong at China University for Political Science and Law.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivDOwEFCDym47e6kBZW1IF5_W27LjCSXEG57Nm23SZCEvxh3HYnYboBP2WIe0w9Cyeh7gtd3jbI2JABoxyrbshVuydim-ao2Z1_0ujSuireItiLvDokpSct4h1OwbEYXwqkcr0oRaiUDES/s1600/chine_ex%25C3%25A9cution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Execution in China" border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivDOwEFCDym47e6kBZW1IF5_W27LjCSXEG57Nm23SZCEvxh3HYnYboBP2WIe0w9Cyeh7gtd3jbI2JABoxyrbshVuydim-ao2Z1_0ujSuireItiLvDokpSct4h1OwbEYXwqkcr0oRaiUDES/s400/chine_ex%25C3%25A9cution.jpg" title="Execution in China" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Liver transplants in China  primarily relied on organs harvested<br />from executed inmates." Execution by firing squad in China.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">“We are now more cautious when imposing the death sentences as the Supreme Court has significantly tightened the review process,” said a president of an intermediate court in a western region who asked not to be named.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Why should we bother if our applications for a death penalty won’t pass the reviews by the top court?”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Over 95% of the death sentences imposed since 2007 have been limited to those who committed serious crimes such as murder, drug trafficking and robberies that result in deaths, according to Zhao from Beijing Normal University, who also serves a director of criminal law research unit under the government-backed China Law Society.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">China has also gradually changed the method of execution in most cases from firing squad to lethal injection. In 2015, the country dropped the controversial practice of harvesting organs from executed criminals for use in transplant operations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But given the lack of official data on people on death row, the number of livers harvested served as an indicator of the number of executions in the country for several years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The number of liver transplants, which primarily relied on organs harvested from executed inmates, dropped by one-third from 2006 to 1,822 in 2007 when the Supreme Court began to take charge of death sentence reviews, according to the China Liver Transplant Registry, an online liver transplant database backed by the Health Commission.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Despite the progress made over the last decade, the death penalty review system is still plagued by a lack of transparency, according to critics.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A search of China Judgment Online, a database affiliated with the Supreme Court, by Zhang Peng, a postgraduate student at the China University of Political Science and Law, found 320 cases between Jan.1, 2014, to Aug. 31, 2016, where review documents showed the Supreme Court had upheld the death penalty. But only 28 of the documents, or less than 9% of cases, said that a defense lawyer was involved in the final review.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some academics said that it might be impossible to add another layer of court trials to replace the review system, but the Supreme Court can turn these reviews into open hearings, which allows for greater public scrutiny.</div><br />Source: <a href="http://www.caixinglobal.com/2017-01-03/101032821.html" target="_blank">Caixin</a>, Shan Yuxiao, Wang Yiyin and Li Rongde, January 3, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Problems Remain in China’s Death-Penalty System Even After Reforms

Chinese death-row inmates are marched to a nearby execution ground where they will be put to death by firing squad. (Beijing) — Lai Changxin...

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Qatar court confirms death penalty for 2 from Tamil Nadu, India

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTwXFFX2_cXxKc0CvM2m-Ax0SxkhY7aFj2Lopr_tsJ0mZ170h5AFYyW5iJG3bd0MA4SMs4X-AdK27ejpk7lSl9HgmRlLtj9_yBF5CuzY_sF6fUT-Y8UGR-04DY7hqRiseApUw0Xcvb2nE/s1600/Doha+Qatar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Doha, Qatar" border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTwXFFX2_cXxKc0CvM2m-Ax0SxkhY7aFj2Lopr_tsJ0mZ170h5AFYyW5iJG3bd0MA4SMs4X-AdK27ejpk7lSl9HgmRlLtj9_yBF5CuzY_sF6fUT-Y8UGR-04DY7hqRiseApUw0Xcvb2nE/s400/Doha+Qatar.jpg" title="Doha, Qatar" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The highest court of Qatar on Monday upheld death penalties awarded to 2 labourers from Tamil Nadu and commuted the life sentence of a third to 15 years' imprisonment. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Court of Cassation's decision means that Alagappa Subramanian and Chinnadurai Perumal - on death row - and Sivakumar Arasan have exhausted their legal options. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">All 3 were convicted of the 2012 murder of a woman who was a Qatari citizen.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The court also rejected the prosecution's appeal to have the death penalty awarded to Mr. Arasan. The only options left to these men is a clemency petition to the Emir of Qatar. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Indian Embassy will have to do this," said Nizar Kochery, a lawyer engaged by the Indian Embassy to represent the 3 men.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The case has gone through 3 tiers of the country's judiciary. The Indian Embassy stepped in only after the 2nd tier in July 2016, ahead of the deadline to file appeals papers after a Doha appeals court upheld a lower court's December 31, 2014 sentences.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The case came to light after Suresh Kumar, a Nagercoil-based lawyer, travelled to Qatar to meet the convicts. He had been informed of the case by C. Rajammal, Mr. Perumal's wife. "I have informed Rajammal of today's verdict. I also reached out to Sivakumar's family. Subramanian's family remains untraceable," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr. Kumar said that Mr. Subramanian maintained that he was from Pudukkottai but those living in the address he provided said they did not know him. Perumal hailed from Virudhunagar district while Mr. Arasan was from Kallakurichi in Villupuram. After Ms. Rajammal submitted a memorandum, the Tamil Nadu government released Rs. 9.5 lakh for their legal expenses. "I have advised Ms. Rajammal to try to meet the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. Perumal is a kidney patient and received treatment within the jail," said Mr. Kumar.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We have to always respect the local laws and work through the local governments and authorities," said Dyaneshwar M. Mulay, Secretary (CPV & OIA), Ministry of External Affairs, when asked about the case during a press conference on Tuesday. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The last Indian to be executed - by a firing squad - in Qatar was Arun Abraham from Kerala, in March 2003.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: The Hindu, January 3, 2017</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Qatar court confirms death penalty for 2 from Tamil Nadu, India

The highest court of Qatar on Monday upheld death penalties awarded to 2 labourers from Tamil Nadu and commuted the life sentence of a third...

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