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Iran: Child bride faces execution by hanging

Iran: Child bride faces execution by hanging

Zeinab Sokian Zeinab Sekaanvand Lokran comes from a poor, conservative Iranian-Kurdish family, and ran away from home at 15 to marry Hossein...

3:29 AM

Pakistan: The love of hanging

<div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbc_zsbdDalAnCERM7nttum4zrUSuCMpXhKNDF-AIa38ww8RPBYAeJEj9D5ThUCZJnVBTP263BoXqtIpmkryZzmbrIg8v3yGIlQtIw68ISLx-Zk72-GcufW8e8aqo4mZI-UZ1PLBvRyqE/s1600/Gallows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Gallows" border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbc_zsbdDalAnCERM7nttum4zrUSuCMpXhKNDF-AIa38ww8RPBYAeJEj9D5ThUCZJnVBTP263BoXqtIpmkryZzmbrIg8v3yGIlQtIw68ISLx-Zk72-GcufW8e8aqo4mZI-UZ1PLBvRyqE/s400/Gallows.jpg" title="Gallows" width="400" /></a></div>Pakistan chose to vote against the recent resolution in the United Nations General Assembly that had called for a global moratorium on the death penalty and was adopted by a majority of member-states.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The gist of this resolution has been adopted by the UN General Assembly every 2 years since 2007. The resolution adopted on Dec 19, 2016 was backed by 117 states, while 40 voted against it and 31 abstained. As against the voting pattern in 2014, the new supporters of the moratorium call were Guinea, Malawi, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka and Swaziland.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">South Asia maintained its fondness for the death penalty as Pakistan joined Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India and Maldives in rejecting a universal moratorium, while Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka voted in favour.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Those who defend the death penalty as a principle enjoined by Islam may look at the division among the Muslim states (the category includes all members of the OIC).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Those voting in favour of a moratorium included: Albania, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Benin, Bosnia Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Eritrea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Suriname, Togo, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Those who abstained included: Bahrain, Cameroon, Comoros, Djibouti, Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda and the UAE.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Muslim states that voted against were: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Egypt, Guyana, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">We find that 24 of the OIC's 57 member states voted in favour of the moratorium, while 13 abstained and only 18 voted against. In other words, Pakistan is in the minority group of 18 OIC member-countries that opposes the moratorium.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is for Pakistan's government and its Islamic scholars to ponder as to why a majority of the OIC members do not find any faith-based bar to the acceptance of a moratorium on capital punishment. They may also consider the possibility that, as in the case of some international treaties, reservations expressed in the name of religion are in fact dictated by the culture or custom of the countries concerned.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">What is more distressing for human rights activists, abolitionist groups and promoters of humanitarian laws in Pakistan is the authorities' aversion to any scrutiny of the rationale for their love of the death penalty regime.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">What one hears of references to the death penalty during the Universal Periodic Review or at talks with the European Union on the GSP+ status is not the result of any serious deliberation. Indeed, one doubts if any discussion on the subject has ever taken place in Pakistan. That there is an urgent need for such a discussion can easily be established.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The recent cases in which the Supreme Court acquitted two individuals who had already been executed, or ordered the release of persons who had spent long years on death row, have strengthened the call for abolition of the death penalty on the ground of high risk of miscarriage of justice. A number of other issues that have surfaced over the past many years also need to be addressed. These are:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">-- The view that the death sentence is not a deterrent to crime has not been challenged nor has the view that hangings brutalise society.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">-- The Qisas law has prevented the president from pardoning death convicts or commuting their sentence although his power to do so under Article 45 of the Constitution remains intact. How does one explain the fact that the army chief can pardon a person awarded the death sentence by a military court while the president cannot do so?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">-- The scholars agree that Islam prescribes the death penalty in only 2 instances. How does the state defend the fact that capital punishment is prescribed for 27 offences in the name of religion?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">-- The judiciary has pointed out the problems it faces in cases in which capital punishment is mandatory if the evidence on record warrants a lesser penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">-- The possibility of a minor or a mentally challenged person being executed keeps cropping up every now and then.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One ventures to suggest a look at the Indian response to the issue of the death penalty in view of the shared legal tradition.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Law Commission of India recommended in August 2015, vide its Report No. 262, that "the death penalty be abolished for all crimes other than terrorism-related offences and waging war". The commission agreed to retain capital punishment for certain offences in view of the parliamentarians' plea that "abolition of death penalty for terrorism-related offences and waging war will affect national security", although in the commission's view "there is no valid penological justification for treating terrorism differently from other crimes."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The commission noted the significant steps taken during India's decades-long efforts to restrict the use of the death penalty: removal of the requirement of giving special reasons for awarding life imprisonment instead of death (1955); introduction of the requirement of imposing the death penalty (1973); and the Supreme Court's decision that the death penalty should be restricted to the rarest of rare cases (1980). The conclusion reached by the commission was:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Informed also by the expanded and deepened contents and horizons of the right to life and strengthened due process requirements in the interactions between the state and the individual, prevailing standards of constitutional morality and human dignity, the commission feels that time has come for India to move towards abolition of the death penalty."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">During the latest debate in the UN General Assembly, however, India again voted against the resolution calling for a moratorium although it could have shown some respect for the Law Commission's recommendation by abstaining. Which only goes to show that, in developing countries, state policies are often determined by authorities that are too timid to disturb the status quo or too proud of their conservatism to heed the counsel of experts who are conscious of the call of the age.</div><br />Source: dawn.com, January 6, 2017<br /><br /><br /><h2>Pakistan: Reviewing the death penalty</h2><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCMrehjtnKWFCuyKdj8RCaoNR8xtTkR8f5XYwT9Vri3mpFfiaSO3xNRb0uLpRpxDhE3qOg7eG3b_207J_3H2hz2zyf5Y1lA5r8zAoj5rhmAAufnOv7X9Q4JaEcmcvvo-Wc-JDAkabngPM/s1600/Peshawar+Central+Prison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Peshawar Central Prison" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCMrehjtnKWFCuyKdj8RCaoNR8xtTkR8f5XYwT9Vri3mpFfiaSO3xNRb0uLpRpxDhE3qOg7eG3b_207J_3H2hz2zyf5Y1lA5r8zAoj5rhmAAufnOv7X9Q4JaEcmcvvo-Wc-JDAkabngPM/s400/Peshawar+Central+Prison.jpg" title="Peshawar Central Prison" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The first thing you notice about the death penalty is how much preparation is involved. In two years, Pakistan has carried out 419 executions. 419 death row prisoners wore a hood as six warders accompanied them to the scaffold each time. 419 bodies remained suspended for 30 minutes after being hanged. Some of these bodies likely ended up in prison graveyards, unable to break free from jails even in death.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On December 17, 2014, Pakistan lifted the moratorium on the death penalty in the wake of the tragic terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar. Originally lifted for terrorism related offences in March 2015, the moratorium was lifted for all capital offences. In the face of international opposition, the government has consistently maintained that the death penalty is the only effective means of fighting terrorism.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, an analysis of the 419 executions that have occurred in less than 2 years by Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), a rights group, reveals significant flaws in this narrative. In Pakistan, criminal culpability is at best, widely misunderstood and at worst, casually measured with irreversible consequences. The numbers that confirm this are frightening.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">27 offences are liable for a black warrant in this country, explaining the macabre achievement of having one of the world’s most populated death rows.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The 100th prisoner to be hanged after executions resumed was mentally ill, unaware until his death as to why he was being punished. Undiagnosed until 2014, Muneer Hussain was mentally unwell since childhood and later, killed two family members.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There have been at least six juveniles executed since the moratorium was lifted in December 2014. Between then and March 2016, at least 444 mercy petitions were sent to the President of Pakistan, including one for schizophrenic prisoner, Imdad Ali and Abdul Basit who is a paraplegic prisoner. So far, the known number of presidential pardons granted stands at zero.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Pakistan, the judicial system that enables the carrying out of death sentences warrants close examination. The legal infrastructure is faulty, mired in red tape, beholden to power, creating a permissive environment for the routine miscarriage of justice.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In November this year, the Supreme Court exercised its suo moto right to reassess a case of kidnapping in Bahawalpur in Punjab, for which two brothers had been sentenced to death. Unsurprisingly, the prosecution’s case was riddled with contradictions, with insufficient evidence and incongruous eyewitness testimonies, and the SC acquitted the condemned prisoners. Only Ghulam Qadir and Ghulam Sarwar were no longer prisoners, having been executed last year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Given the Bahawalpur case, it is critical to overhaul a system that hangs the living, and exonerates the dead. The dearth of resources for law-enforcement incentivises corruption and other abuses of authority. Police lack forensic capabilities and other reliable means of investigation. As a result, there is over-reliance on confessions, easily obtained through torture.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">1,424 cases of torture have been uncovered in just one district of Faisalabad from 2006 to 2012, according to Justice Project Pakistan</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">444 mercy petitions have been sent to the president between Dec 2014 and March 2016; none have been granted so far</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">JPP uncovered 1,424 cases of torture in just one district of Faisalabad from 2006 to 2012. At 17, Abd-ur-Rehman was subject to such brutal torture following his detention that he admitted to every accusation levied at him, including being told that his name was Azam. Today, no one in Karachi Central Jail, where he remains imprisoned, knows him by the name he was born with. His involvement in an attempted burglary has kept him on death row for the last 18 years — well over half his life.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Every defendant is entitled to effective legal counsel at all stages of proceedings under the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Pakistan is a signatory. Though Pakistan provides needy capital defendants with counsel at state expense, the quality of representation is poor. In fact, it is generally not perceived as acceptable for lawyers to be seen in a jail.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Such scant contact between lawyers and their clients in criminal cases actively enables the miscarriage of justice, given the former essentially forgoes the chances of uncovering potentially exculpatory evidence. But with a fee below the minimum wage (a minimum of Rs2,000, with a daily fee of Rs200), there is little motivation for a state-appointed attorney to pursue a case.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">International law dictates that capital punishment be reserved only for the most serious crimes, subject to fair and legitimate processes that protect a defendant’s basic rights and provide avenues for post-conviction relief. Pakistan has not lived up to its obligations. At each stage of a defendant’s encounter with this system, severe violations emerge.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Calling for anything short of a complete moratorium on executions means the continued killing of individuals whose rights have repeatedly been violated from the time of their arrest to their conviction and beyond. Sending even one innocent person – and the government sent two in the Bahawalpur case – to the gallows should prompt this step.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Given these systemic failings, legal reforms, while an important first step, are inadequately implemented at the local level. An executive mechanism to examine mercy petitions must be assembled which refers credible mercy petitions to the presidency.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Because of the lack of transparency, it is recommended that independent actors such as the National Human Rights Commission, a statutory body constituted under the National Human Rights Commission Act 2012, conduct investigations into cases.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Wrongful and unjust death sentences must be commuted. Because the death sentence warrants a high standard of proof, the state should also commute cases for individuals whose convictions were based primarily on confessions, in recognition of the high prevalence of custodial torture and inadequate safeguards in place.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Passing the Anti-Torture Bill, which has been pending since 2012, would be a good place to start. In short, Pakistan’s criminal justice system needs to undertake a detailed review of the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="http://www.dawn.com/news/1303817" target="_blank">Dawn</a>, Rimmel Mohydin, Zainab Malik, December 22, 2016. Rimmel Mohydin and Zainab Malik work on public and policy advocacy at Justice Project Pakistan.</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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Pakistan: The love of hanging

Pakistan chose to vote against the recent resolution in the United Nations General Assembly that had called for a global moratorium on the d...

8:28 AM

Countries with close links to the UK and EU continued to occupy the ranks of the world’s most prolific executioners in 2016

<div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia7PVPcKXWdiBk2aCILt2E2edJA8KO5Rl2_mJ1xlwL6fQ50a64w5CvM91AoXNDXiBRymdPZWjaPvy9nZc2iKrh6IWHWFZ4kJM-S7NGjJMSoNo-oBTJHcmCbYK4TseIaPWlgalMfxBp8Pc/s1600/Iran+The+Execution+Line.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The execution line - Iran" border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia7PVPcKXWdiBk2aCILt2E2edJA8KO5Rl2_mJ1xlwL6fQ50a64w5CvM91AoXNDXiBRymdPZWjaPvy9nZc2iKrh6IWHWFZ4kJM-S7NGjJMSoNo-oBTJHcmCbYK4TseIaPWlgalMfxBp8Pc/s400/Iran+The+Execution+Line.jpg" title="The execution line - Iran" width="400" /></a></div>Global executions in 2016 - Countries with close links to the UK and EU continued to occupy the ranks of the world’s most prolific executioners in 2016, research by international human rights group Reprieve has found.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Saudi Arabia, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/18/at-least-150-people-executed-in-saudi-arabia-for-second-year-in-row" target="_blank">over 150 people were executed</a> for the second year running, including 47 people in one day in January 2016. Among those killed were juveniles and political protestors. Fears remain for the fate of at least three people sentenced to death as children – Ali al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoon and Abdullah al-Zaher – who still await beheading.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Pakistan, the authorities continued to execute scores of prisoners from the country’s 8,000-strong death row. A total of 419 prisoners have been hanged since a moratorium on the death penalty was lifted in December 2014. Concerns remained over the strong risk of miscarriages of justice in Pakistan: earlier this year, the Supreme Court found that <a href="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press/pakistan-acquits-two-hanged-men-insane-man-faces-execution/" target="_blank">two men who had been hanged were innocent</a>. Pakistan’s government claims its use of the death penalty is a response to terrorism, but Reprieve’s research found that <a href="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press/94-hangings-pakistan-not-terrorism-cases-new-figures/" target="_blank">94% of prisoners recently hanged in Pakistan had nothing to do with terrorism</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Iran, the government continued to hang hundreds of prisoners, nearly half of whom who were arrested for alleged drug offences. Reprieve continued to raise concerns that <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/eu-funding-could-be-linked-to-mass-executions-in-iran-a7453041.html" target="_blank">international funding for Iran’s anti-narcotics police may contribute to death sentences</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">China continues to keep the number of executions a closely-guarded secret, but is widely believed to remain the world leader, with the death toll estimated in the thousands. The UK this year signed an <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/china-uk-high-level-security-dialogue-official-statement/china-uk-high-level-security-dialogue-communique" target="_blank">agreement</a> to increase cooperation with China on security and crime, leading to potential risks that British assistance could contribute to the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: justify;">Other countries of concern</h3><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The torture and sentencing to death of political protestors, and juveniles, continued apace in several countries with close ties to the UK.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Of particular concern are Bahrain – where several protestors await execution on the basis of forced ‘confessions’ – and Egypt. Reprieve has established that in the last three years, <a href="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press/egypt-death-sentences-near-2000-amid-fears-irish-student/" target="_blank">the Egyptian judiciary has sentenced 1,857 to death</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In addition, 2016 saw alarming proposals in Kuwait to <a href="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/2016_11_16_INT-Letter-to-PM-Theresa-May-about-GCC-summit-as-sent.pdf">lower to 16 the age at which people can be sentenced to death</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Commenting, Maya Foa, a director of Reprieve, said:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“It is alarming that countries with close links to the UK and EU continued to occupy the ranks of the world’s most prolific executioners in 2016. From Saudi Arabia, Iran and China, to Pakistan, Egypt and Bahrain, we have found children on death row, innocent people hanged, drugs offences dealt with as capital crimes, and torture used to extract false confessions. Countries that oppose executions must do more in 2017 to ensure that their overseas security assistance does not contribute to others states use of the death penalty.”<br /><br /><h3>#1 - China. Executed: Unknown (Est. +1,000)</h3>The number of executions is a state secret, and the executions reported in the media are likely to be a fraction of those that are carried out. China continues to execute more people than any other country in the world.<br /><br /><h3>#2 - Iran. Executed: 534+</h3>The actual number of executions is likely to be higher in Iran, given the government’s underreporting of executions and the holding of secret executions. Reprieve’s research shows that at least 211 of the hangings that took place in 2016 were for drugs offences, in violation of international law.<br /><br /><h3>#3 - Saudi Arabia. Executed: 154</h3>This execution total is close to last year’s record high of 158. Among those executed this year were at least 4 juveniles who were killed as part of a mass execution of 47 people in January. One of them, Ali al-Ribh, was arrested in school, tortured into a false ‘confession’ to protest-related charges, and executed.<br /><br /><h3>#4 - Iraq. Executed: 101+</h3>Ongoing armed conflict makes it impossible to obtain exact figures for Iraq, but Reprieve was able to establish that at least 101 executions took place in 2016. However, based on unconfirmed media reports, the real figure may be more than double this total.<br /><br /><h3>#5 - Pakistan. Executed: 87</h3>According to figures gathered by Reprieve, there had been 87 executions in 2016 as of December 6. This was a decrease since 2015, which saw Pakistan embark on an unprecedented execution spree, and leapfrog Saudi Arabia to become the world’s third most prolific executioner. The country lifted a six-year moratorium on the execution of civilians in December 2014.<br /><br /><h3>#6 - USA. Executed: 20</h3>The most prolific executioner <a href="http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/" target="_blank">among US states</a> was Georgia, which executed 9 people this year. Execution numbers fell to a record low amid growing concerns about the effectiveness of capital punishment. 2016 saw public support for the death penalty fall to under 50%, death sentences drop to a record low and every FDA-approved pharmaceutical company oppose the misuse of medicines in lethal injections, causing many states to put executions on hold.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Figures correct as of 20th December 2016.</i><br /><i><br /></i>➫ For Your Information:<b> </b>Upon reading the above article, Alan Shadrake, author of "<a href="http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.fr/2016/07/once-jolly-hangman-singapore-justice-in.html" target="_blank">Once a Jolly Hangman, Singapore Justice in the Dock</a>", contacted Death Penalty News on December 23, and submitted the following comment: "They forgot to mention Singapore!"<br /><br />Source: Reprieve, December 23, 2016. Reprieve is an international human rights organization.</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? Help us keep this blog up and running! <a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=JBVXEBZLP3WKW" target="_blank">DONATE!</a></b></div><form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_blank"><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/fr_FR/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" /></div></form><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div>

Countries with close links to the UK and EU continued to occupy the ranks of the world’s most prolific executioners in 2016

Global executions in 2016 - Countries with close links to the UK and EU continued to occupy the ranks of the world’s most prolific execution...

6:27 AM

Iran: Prisoner Executed in Public, Juvenile Offender on the Verge of Execution

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfnyjfLqC9-TAQwaRqKKKMX47fnCw-H5u-9mLiUKorZtAJsTSfWeuCVYO5z1WrMjvQfj1e44EfgnG9rcEPuNoWDwCU_uOczN99AUr-q9nzcMuDqO4neeKzxIrrR6AyTXYlki-38U_TqIA/s1600/Public+hanging+in+Ilam%252C+Iran%252C+22DEC2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Public hanging in Ilam, Iran, on December 22, 2016" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfnyjfLqC9-TAQwaRqKKKMX47fnCw-H5u-9mLiUKorZtAJsTSfWeuCVYO5z1WrMjvQfj1e44EfgnG9rcEPuNoWDwCU_uOczN99AUr-q9nzcMuDqO4neeKzxIrrR6AyTXYlki-38U_TqIA/s320/Public+hanging+in+Ilam%252C+Iran%252C+22DEC2016.jpg" title="Public hanging in Ilam, Iran, on December 22, 2016" width="274" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">NCRI - This morning, December 22, a prisoner was hanged in public in the city of Ilam – Western Iran.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The public execution was carried out this morning, in the city center of Ilam in the presence of chief Justice, the public prosecutor, criminal justice and police chief, the state run Mehr news agency reported.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Also on Monday, December 20th three Baluchi prisoners were hanged in Birjand Prison – Eastern Iran.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Meanwhile Mohammad Reza Haddadi who was 15 years old at the time of arrest (2002) on charges of robbery and murder is due for execution. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Haddadi has repeatedly denied all the charges during the whole interrogation process, which has been confirmed by the ones who share the same charges with him</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He has been also deprived of having access to lawyers.</div><br />Source: <a href="http://ncr-iran.org/en/news/human-rights/21770-iran-a-prisoner-was-executed-in-public-a-juvenile-prisoner-on-the-verge-of-execution" target="_blank">NCRI</a>, December 22, 2016<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? Help us keep this blog up and running! <a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=JBVXEBZLP3WKW" target="_blank">DONATE!</a></b></div><form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_blank"><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/fr_FR/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" /></div></form><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div>

Iran: Prisoner Executed in Public, Juvenile Offender on the Verge of Execution

NCRI - This morning, December 22, a prisoner was hanged in public in the city of Ilam – Western Iran. The public execution was carried out t...

10:03 AM

Pakistan: Army chief signs death warrants of 13 terrorists

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNLDh0vIx2vh6VESZ7Qxe6Ffxi-uL41_6J_8seX7WTPA7hsNxvJLToMr-ZroK6VHhkYf4XLWY53SB4RyVEahk6L7HXutNAR-5fUlELI2Tq2UuJuAKgx4WTAJQHvcDChy6rUNCnoJ4LryI/s1600/Gallows+Malaysia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Gallows" border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNLDh0vIx2vh6VESZ7Qxe6Ffxi-uL41_6J_8seX7WTPA7hsNxvJLToMr-ZroK6VHhkYf4XLWY53SB4RyVEahk6L7HXutNAR-5fUlELI2Tq2UuJuAKgx4WTAJQHvcDChy6rUNCnoJ4LryI/s400/Gallows+Malaysia.jpg" title="Gallows" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Friday signed death warrants of another 13 'hardcore terrorists' who were found guilty of being behind a series of terrorist attacks, including those on Charsadda's Bacha Khan University, Rawalpindi's Parade Lane Mosque and the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The death warrants signed by Gen Qamar are his 1st since he assumed command of the army on November 29 and came on a day when the country was observing the 2nd anniversary of the Peshawar Army Public School attack.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement that those who were handed the death penalty were involved in heinous offences related to terrorism, including killing and slaughtering of innocent civilians and officials of law enforcement agencies and armed forces of Pakistan.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"These terrorists also include those who planned and executed attacks on Bacha Khan University Charsadda, Parade Lane Mosque Rawalpindi, Marriott Hotel Islamabad, Office of World Vision NGO in Mansehra and an educational institution at Nawagai Buner," the military's media wing added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On the whole, they were involved in killing 325 people and in causing injuries to 366 others. Firearms and explosives were also recovered from their possession. These convicts were tried by military courts, the ISPR said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Those who were handed down death sentence are identified as Latifullah Mehsud, Arafat, Wahid Ali, Abdul Rehman, Mian Said Raheem, Noor Muhammad, Sher Ali, Syed Qasim Shah, Muhammad Usman, Muhammad Riaz, Noorullah, Gul Zarin and Akbar Ali.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Unlike the previous announcements about military courts' verdicts, the ISPR this time specifically did not identify convicts' affiliation with any militant group. Instead it said all convicts were members of a proscribed organisation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to ISPR, Latif Ullah Mehsud, Abdul Rehman, Sher Ali and Noor Muhammad were involved in killing of innocent civilians and attacking law enforcement agencies of Pakistan,</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The charge-sheet against Arafat includes attacking Marriott Hotel Islamabad and Parade Lane Mosque Rawalpindi, which resulted in death of 110 people. Wahid Ali, Akbar Ali, Muhammad Riaz and Noorullah were convicted for being behind Bacha Khan University Charsadda attack. Mian Said Raheem was involved in killing of 15 civilians</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Syed Qasim Shah was involved in attacking Office of World Vision NGO, which resulted in death of 6 employees of said NGO.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Muhammad Waqar Faisal was given the death sentence for the killing of police constable Asad Abbas and in injuring a police constable and 2 civilians.</div><br />Source: The Express Tribune, December 18, 2016<br /><br /><h2>Call to end capital punishment</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">It has been 2 years since the tragic attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar. No amount of commiseration or time can ever mitigate the horror of that day.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In response, Pakistan ended its 6-year-old moratorium on capital punishment as part of its National Action Plan (NAP). The government was adamant that only those convicted of terrorism would be executed. This was false, as the moratorium for all capital crimes was lifted just 3 months later in March 2015 - widely sounded by the state as the only effective means of fighting terrorism.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An analysis of the 419 executions that have occurred so far reveals significant flaws in that narrative.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to data collected by Justice Project Pakistan, only 16 % of the executions carried out since December 2014 were related to terrorism charges.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The remainder have included several cases of wrongful execution such as juveniles, the mentally ill and the physically disabled, all of which are expressly forbidden in light of Pakistan's international legal obligations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This figure is even more problematic when considering that in as many as 88 percent of 'terrorism' cases, there was no link to a terrorist organisation or anything that can reasonably be defined as terrorism.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is a dishonour to the memory of the APS attack victims for the state to take lives in their name, when they have no bearing on curbing the menace that caused their deaths.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pakistan has retained its notorious status of being the 3rd most prolific executioner in the world 2 years in a row. Under Pakistani law, 27 crimes carry the death sentence and an average of 258 death sentences have been imposed yearly from 2007 to 2015, explaining why the country has the highest populated death row in the world. Given these statistics, it is clear that Pakistan does not reserve the death penalty for 'the most serious crimes' as required by international law.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The criminal justice system that so eagerly imposes death sentences in the country warrants close examination. Pakistan's faulty legal infrastructure remains inaccessible, corrupt, mired in red tape, beholden to power and usurped by influence and wealth, creating a permissive environment for the routine miscarriage of justice.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This is compounded by the lack of a meaningful appellate process for capital cases, a blatant violation of Pakistan's international human rights obligations. Until March this year, the Presidency had 444 pending mercy petitions. So far, the known number of presidential pardons granted stands at zero.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">NAP correctly observed that there is a need to "revamp and reform Pakistan's criminal justice system" but no significant effort has been made to do this so far. Like last year, even more cases of wrongful executions have come to light in 2016. In October, the Supreme Court acquitted 2 brothers in Bahawalpur after they spent 11 years on death row, only to find they had already been executed the year before. Another prisoner was found innocent a year after he had been found dead in his cell. There are likely many more cases like this, considering a condemned prisoner will spend an average of 11.41 years on death row.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pakistan has a series of upcoming UN reviews in 2017, where its adherence to its international legal commitments such as the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Convention Against Torture (CAT) and Universal Periodic Review (UPR) will be evaluated.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Needless to say, Pakistan's broad scope of its application of the death penalty will feature heavily, and the country's representatives will have to explain why the innocent, the mentally ill, the physically disabled and juveniles have been executed under its watch. This will have a direct bearing on Pakistan's eligibility for the GSP plus trade status.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sarah Belal, Executive Director of Justice Project Pakistan adds: "Widespread and fundamental failings of the criminal justice system warrant an immediate suspension of the capital punishment regime in Pakistan. JPP will always stand with the families of those affected by terrorism, and hopes that their sacrifice is honoured appropriately. This cannot be the case if Pakistan continues to wrongfully execute innocent individuals, juveniles and persons with mental and physical disabilities."</div><br />Source: The Nation, December 18, 2016<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? Help us keep this blog up and running! <a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=JBVXEBZLP3WKW" target="_blank">DONATE!</a></b></div><form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_blank"><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/fr_FR/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" /></div></form><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div>

Pakistan: Army chief signs death warrants of 13 terrorists

Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Friday signed death warrants of another 13 'hardcore terrorists' who were found guilty of be...

2:47 AM

Saudi executions pass 150 this year, nearing 2015 total

Saudi executions pass 150 this year, nearing 2015 total

Public execution in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia has executed at least 153 people this year, nearing last year's record high of 158, accor...

2:37 AM

Kian, An Iranian Juvenile on Death Row

<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/AVvXsEh1wDSEraKHjjQqCYijwmZYsu3uTwZhVnu5K6BZy8AVSuBeyVzQtTt2Eo8tAYERvZrkOZJjSy8SBSoTGAj9Cew5CjusIyYAVtKzuHKym0hGGlRzeiE2gnkCqWhou0pCxHZBT6I20sqScM0/s1600/Mahmoud-Asgari-and-Ayaz-Marhoni.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Hanging juvenile offenders: not an uncommon occurrence in Iran" border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1wDSEraKHjjQqCYijwmZYsu3uTwZhVnu5K6BZy8AVSuBeyVzQtTt2Eo8tAYERvZrkOZJjSy8SBSoTGAj9Cew5CjusIyYAVtKzuHKym0hGGlRzeiE2gnkCqWhou0pCxHZBT6I20sqScM0/s400/Mahmoud-Asgari-and-Ayaz-Marhoni.jpg" title="Hanging juvenile offenders: not an uncommon occurrence in Iran" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hanging juvenile offenders: not an uncommon punishment in Iran</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>This piece was initially published on June 13, 2015. </i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It was all fear and turbulence, not cool revenge or a premeditated plan. The homicide changed Kian’s life radically: He not only lost eight of the best years of his life to prison, but even came close to being executed. He has had a difficult time and isn’t yet free of the execution risk. Kian, who has been in prison for alleged homicide since his teen years, is still passing his days in terror at Rasht Central Prison. Despite all this, his lawyer’s petition for retrial has been accepted. There is yet hope for Kian. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The case of Kian’s homicide was first prosecuted eight years ago. As a 17-year-old teenager, he got involved in a fight to dissuade his friend from murder. Kian says, “The quarrel was between my friend, Ali, and a guy named Keyvan. They first got into a fight in the street. The neighborhood was crowded so people stopped them. Then they decided to pick it up somewhere else. They planned to meet at a swimming pool. I showed up to support Ali. There were two of us and three of them. They surely would have beaten us: besides, there was no beef between Keyvan and I and he’d told me from the first day not to get involved. When they started the fight, I got involved because they drew a knife and someone could have been killed. I tried to stop them, but Ali stabbed Keyvan twice, resulting in his death.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The first time Keyvan was stabbed, he attacked Ali in retaliation. The first knife cut was not seriously deep. Kian says, “Keyvan stood up and went towards Ali to hit him. At this moment, Ali stabbed him on his left side, causing severe bleeding. We were very scared. First Ali escaped and then me. Keyvan’s friends held me and hit me in the head with a stick. They wanted to stop me but I managed to free myself and escape.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kian did not remain free for long: he was taken into custody a few days after Ali’s arrest. He was arrested because of his friend’s confession. “Keyvan was taken to the hospital by his friends but the doctors couldn’t save him and he died. When Ali was arrested, I thought that he would tell them everything and that would be the end of it. I was first summoned to the police office as a witness, but was arrested later due to Ali’s confessions. He said that I stabbed Keyvan once, although I hadn’t done it and Ali had stabbed him both times. Although he first confessed that he had stabbed him both times, he later retracted his confession and said that I stabbed Keyvan once.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Although Kian now maintains his innocence, he had confessed in the course of earlier interrogations that he struck Keyvan. Why, then, did he make such a confession? On this point Kian says that “When this happened, I was a 17-year-old teenager; I hadn’t even seen a police officer up close. This is why when I was arrested and was told that Ali had claimed I’d stabbed Keyvan once, I was greatly afraid and confessed myself. I didn’t know that I could disagree with a police officer. I was too scared to tell the truth, until I heard that only one of the stabs was deadly and that was why Ali had made the confession. After the first confession, I told them that I was wrong and that what I’d told the interrogator and police office was not correct, but they said that my words accorded with reality. They said the confessions I made were therefore true and that I couldn’t deny them.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kian denied his early statements in court but the victim’s family’s lawyer revealed evidence that further complicated the case. Kian reports that “In court I explained that Ali stabbed him both times and I didn’t have anything to do with it. I just made the confession out of fear, but the victim’s family’s lawyer said that there were witnesses who could confirm that I was the assailant. They then called Keyvan’s friends to the stand and they testified against me, claiming that I stabbed Keyvan directly in the chest.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kian maintains that he had no quarrel with Keyvan and that he wasn’t the assailant, but the forensic investigator realized that the victim was stabbed two times by two different knives and that only one of the blows proved fatal. The witnesses explained this fatal stab in court. Those who saw the deadly fight firsthand explained that Keyvan, after being stabbed by Ali a first time, was in good enough condition to rush toward Ali to retaliate. They claimed that he had just covered his wound with his hand at that time, but that as soon as he reached Ali, Kian attacked and stabbed Keyvan with the knife that was lying on the ground. The stab was so effective that Keyvan couldn’t stand up again. These statements induced the Criminal Court of Guilan to hand down a <i>qesas </i>(retaliation) sentence. This was Kian’s first brush with death at the hands of the judiciary. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Presently 25 years old, Kian now says that “When I received the sentence, I felt out of breath; I was terrified. I cried all night until morning. I wasn’t feeling good at all: my lawyer tried to calm me down and said that he would object to the verdict and that there was a chance the verdict might be overturned. I thought he said it to cheer me up, because the verdicts of most of those who were in prison and sentenced to retribution ended up being upheld. A few months later I heard that the verdict was overturned because my lawyer had claimed that those who were called to the stand as witnesses were present in the fight and held a grudge. Therefore they couldn’t prove whether or not I was the murderer and sentence me to <i>qesas </i>retribution based on the testimony of the witnesses.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">When the verdict was overturned, Kian was over eighteen years old; he was thus forced to move to an adults’ prison. “At my age, my peers played football, went to the movies, studied and were happy. But I awaited my execution. I lived through tough times thinking about the moment the sentence would be carried out. Everything was different in the adults’ prison: life was giving me a hard time and I was just realizing that I had to take care of myself and that harder times awaited me. At any rate I was hopeful and tried to calm myself down. I talked to my family over the phone every day and tried to control my anxiety. I met with them every week. I was alone. The friend who had brought on my murder conviction had lied and was released, but I was in jail awaiting death. My retrial was finally arranged. In the second session, I repeated the same things I’d said in the first session, but it didn’t work and the judge sentenced me to retribution based on his own judgment.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At this point, Kian’s family started meeting the victim’s next of kin to solicit their forgiveness; these efforts were unsuccessful. The victim’s family’s hatred became deeper and stronger upon the passing away of their father. They believed that the reason for his death was the stress caused by Keyvan’s death, which intensified their anguish. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kian says, “The meetings didn’t help at all. Some of the social activists and elders of the city met the victim’s next of kin and asked for forgiveness; they didn’t accept it until the tough day came, a day I felt pain and death every second. I was watching myself die. They summoned me and another prisoner. We had to go the prison director’s office. The sentence was to be imposed. Whenever the ward’s speaker turned on, I would get frightened. It was my turn to go to the prison office. The director said that it was time for the execution. We both got scared: our lives were over. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There they handcuffed us both. They called our families from the director’s office to visit us for the last time. Time didn’t pass; it had stopped still. Even the walls of the cell were waiting for my death. I was terrified, so I said my prayers to calm myself down. After prayer, I went to see my family and told them my will. I hugged all my family members and told them not to cry very much, that we were prepared to die and everyone’s life ends at some point, that I was destined to be in prison at this age and that my fate was to die. I related my will that they bury me next to my grandfather. I loved him very much and I had a lot of good memories of him. His death was the worst thing that had happened in my life. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgToNMWYE65AO4B90sHpbkqBK4G9lJpQs5nDn29NZH1eKRWSuigZ53ERtTlrnBPg8NEsGspBIi2r9hWZ2YewlText48alqSATN4VDZGPR5_Rnn1qK7KHuZTU0R4wsJhvnnz1jZS6jaDjEk/s1600/Public+hanging+Iran.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Iran: Medieval and barbaric punishments" border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgToNMWYE65AO4B90sHpbkqBK4G9lJpQs5nDn29NZH1eKRWSuigZ53ERtTlrnBPg8NEsGspBIi2r9hWZ2YewlText48alqSATN4VDZGPR5_Rnn1qK7KHuZTU0R4wsJhvnnz1jZS6jaDjEk/s400/Public+hanging+Iran.jpg" title="Iran: Medieval and barbaric punishments" width="400" /></a></div>After almost one hour of talking, we said goodbye to each other and I returned to my solitary cell again. I was 22 years old at the time. That night lasted forever. They woke me up before Azan in the morning. I didn’t sleep much, maybe around 20 minutes. I washed up and said my prayers. They had called the person who was with me to carry out his sentence. He went in before me. I heard his crying. The sound was weak and faint. After saying my prayers, I sat on a chair and waited for my turn. One of the officers who was in charge of carrying out the sentences came and said, “Return this young man to his cell”. First I thought I was dreaming and my hands and feet got cold. I sat on a chair for a few moments. When the officer in charge of carrying out the sentences came I thought it was the end. I was trying to calm myself down and repeated to myself that everybody would die someday. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Somebody had been executed earlier: they had put the corpse in a bag and I’d passed by it. When the officer in charge told me to return to my cell, I wasn’t even able to ask why. When I knew that I was not dreaming and this was really happening I thought to myself that maybe I’d finally won the consent of the boy’s family. Although I was very scared and had spent a lot of hard time full of tension and anxiety, at the bottom of my heart I hoped and knew I would live. The last minutes were always crucial and decisive. There were a lot of people who won consent during the last moments, when the rope was already around their neck. I was hoping for the same. The only thing I was not thinking about was that the execution might be halted because of my young age at the time of the crime. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kian wasn’t the only one who was having a stressful time; his family was having a hard time outside prison trying to win consent from the family of the slain, remaining uncertain as to whether or not the execution would be halted. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kian says, “We all became very happy. When I talked to my mother she cried a lot and said she’d asked God to give me back to her again. Of course, I was sick for a few days and not feeling very well. They injected me with saline solution several times because of my low blood pressure at the time and it took a while for me to eat again. I used tranquillizers for a long time. Then the sentence was halted. But I wasn’t sure if they would take me out for execution again. During this time, my family used every opportunity to solicit consent from the slain’s next of kin, but they failed. As I realized, the victim’s mother was more upset than anyone else and the other next of kin would consent if she did. When I grew up I realized how much this woman has suffered and I gave her my condolences. When I see how my mother cries because of my situation and how her face has grown so old at such a young age, I realize how much Keyvan’s mother suffers and how painful the absence of her child has been.  But I still maintain I’m not the assailant and that I was naïve and foolish to get involved in that fight. I couldn’t make a rational decision and I thought it was the right decision to support my friend. I didn’t know what it meant to kill a person and thought it was a strange thing only some people were capable of, and that I was not such a person.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The execution was halted, affording a second chance for Kian’s case to be reviewed according to Article 91 of a new law specifying intellectual maturity as one of the conditions necessary for an execution sentence to be carried out for a juvenile offender. Kian says that “A while ago, they took me to the forensic medicine expert for medical examination. There, one of the doctors asked me to describe the events of the day of the crime. I was talking about the day when the doctor said I had spoken enough, and then they returned me to the jail again. I then got word by way of my lawyer that according to the forensic medicine report, it was not clear whether or not I was of sufficient mental maturity at the time of the crime.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This report could prove either helpful or hurtful to Kian. Officials might yet come to the conclusion that Kian was not intellectually grown at the time of the crime and didn’t understand the prohibition on murder, meaning article 91 would apply to him. But they could also interpret the forensic report differently and find that he was aware of the prohibition on murder at the time. The judge’s opinion concerning the report sided against Kian, and another date was set for the sentence to be carried out. Due to his lawyer’s efforts to secure a retrial in the state Supreme Court, the execution was again halted. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kian reports that “They told me the execution would be carried out because the forensic medicine couldn’t confirm my intellectual maturity. I got scared and stressed again. A few days later, they said that the sentence would be carried out and that I should ready myself.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kian faced very hard moments in Rasht Central Prison. Although he’d been told to prepare for execution, his lawyer requested a retrial in the state Supreme Court and the execution was stayed temporarily in order to comply with the request. Law enforcement authorities in Rasht stated that they would give Kian’s lawyer a small window of time before making a decision as to whether or not to accept the request, in whose balance hangs the fate of 25-year-old Kian. “My family will not wait for the court to decide: they are trying hard to get the next of kin’s consent with apologies and by every other means they know. If my family could win the consent of the victim’s mother, the other next of kin who are the victim’s brothers and sisters will consent as well.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The slain’s family members have said that they will respect whatever their mother decides. Honestly, in these years I’ve been severely punished. I’ve awaited death every day since the age of 17. I admit I made a lot of mistakes when I was a kid. My friendship with Ali wasn’t right. I shouldn’t have gotten involved in that fight when I didn’t know what it was about. I realized what it was about after I got arrested. Their fight was over Ali’s sister, and they had fought several times prior. I was sentenced to execution when I didn’t even know who I was fighting with. I wanted the next of kin to forgive me. I did something foolish when I was young and this mistake cost me my youth. I beg them to have mercy on my mother and not to force her to grieve over my death.”</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="http://iranrights.org/library/document/3041" target="_blank">Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation</a>, "Kian, A Juvenile on Death Row/ Interview by Marjan Laghaee/ ABF Translation", June 13, 2015</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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Kian, An Iranian Juvenile on Death Row

Hanging juvenile offenders: not an uncommon punishment in Iran This piece was initially published on June 13, 2015. It was all fear and tur...

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