U.S.: The Continuing Collapse of the Death Penalty

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXw7H4WU4CaLY3ClKnIGDkZPeAejcd3woNC1kiZBwV8I9xau5i5dC_8VvHiaRXF9nlNOhSgxRd-Dfzn-fB8jcpGBubLKbq3brF_hDD18XJ6wK95vkoI8ZoDxHYzp4lbJchlMWDPiFPE94/s1600/Oklahoma+death+chamber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Oklahoma's death chamber" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXw7H4WU4CaLY3ClKnIGDkZPeAejcd3woNC1kiZBwV8I9xau5i5dC_8VvHiaRXF9nlNOhSgxRd-Dfzn-fB8jcpGBubLKbq3brF_hDD18XJ6wK95vkoI8ZoDxHYzp4lbJchlMWDPiFPE94/s400/Oklahoma+death+chamber.jpg" title="Oklahoma's death chamber" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Piece by piece, the death penalty continues to fall apart. Last week, the Florida Supreme Court <a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-florida-death-penalty-asay-20161222-story.html" target="_blank">invalidated</a> between 150 and 200 death sentences — nearly half of all those in the state — because they were imposed under a law the United States Supreme Court <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/13/opinion/floridas-death-machine-loses-again.html" target="_blank">struck down as unconstitutional</a> in January. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The law, which required judges and not juries to make the factual findings necessary to sentence someone to die, violated the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of a jury trial. “A jury’s mere recommendation is not enough,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for an 8-to-1 majority.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Florida <a href="http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/2016/sc14-436.pdf" target="_blank">decision</a> is the most recent sign, in a year full of them, that the morally abhorrent practice of capital punishment is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/21/us/death-penalty-capital-punishment.html?_r=0" target="_blank">sliding into the dustbin</a> of American history — where it should have been long ago.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Juries around the country imposed 30 death sentences in 2016, a 40 percent drop from last year and fewer than at any time since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, according to a <a href="http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/2016YrEnd.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> by the Death Penalty Information Center, a research group that opposes capital punishment. Twenty people were executed this year, the lowest number in a quarter-century.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The practice is not only increasingly rare, it is concentrated in an extremely narrow slice of the country. Only five states carried out executions in 2016, the report found, and only five imposed more than one death sentence. California sentenced nine people to die, the most of any state, but no one has been put to death there since 2006.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Public support for the death penalty keeps dropping, too — <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/09/29/support-for-death-penalty-lowest-in-more-than-four-decades/" target="_blank">falling below 50 percent</a> for the first time in more than four decades, according to a Pew Research survey. Support falls even further when respondents are given the alternative of a long prison term like life without parole. Though voters in California, Nebraska and Oklahoma last month <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2016/11/09/the-death-penalty-is-alive-and-well?ref=hp-4-121#.GEv5BuAM2" target="_blank">preserved</a> the death penalty, the overall trend is toward growing discomfort with state-sanctioned killing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The total abolition of capital punishment, however, will depend on the Supreme Court’s reading of the Eighth Amendment’s ban on <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-viii" target="_blank">cruel and unusual punishments</a>. So far, only one current member of the court, Justice Stephen Breyer, a <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/supreme-court-justice-stephen-breyer-death-penalty-may-be-unconstitutional-119547" target="_blank">regular critic</a> of the death penalty, has expressed openness to examining this question. This month Justice Breyer <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/12/us/politics/justice-stephen-breyer-death-penalty-supreme-court.html" target="_blank">took aim</a> at the practice again, in a <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/16pdf/16-5247_q713.pdf" target="_blank">dissent</a> from the court’s decision not to hear an appeal from a death-row inmate in Florida.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pointing to the facts of several recent cases that had come before the court, Justice Breyer asked whether the death penalty itself — plagued by arbitrariness, racism, decades-long delays and faulty execution-drug protocols — violates the Eighth Amendment. The people who end up being executed, he wrote, “are not the ‘worst of the worst,’ but, rather, are individuals chosen at random, on the basis, perhaps of geography, perhaps of the views of individual prosecutors, or still worse on the basis of race.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Meanwhile the court is making matters worse with its <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/12/us/politics/the-lethal-gaps-in-how-the-supreme-court-handles-the-death-penalty.html">erratic </a><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/12/us/politics/the-lethal-gaps-in-how-the-supreme-court-handles-the-death-penalty.html" target="_blank">decisions</a> in recent last-minute death-penalty appeals. Who lives and who dies is arbitrary.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Justice Breyer is asking the right questions. It is up to a majority of his colleagues to listen closely and bring the only just result: the permanent abolition of capital punishment in America.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/26/opinion/the-continuing-collapse-of-the-death-penalty.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>, The Editorial Board, December 26, 2016</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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U.S.: The Continuing Collapse of the Death Penalty

Piece by piece, the death penalty continues to fall apart. Last week, the Florida Supreme Court invalidated between 150 and 200 death sente...

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Death penalty looms for Mauritanian blogger accused of insulting Islam

<div style="text-align: justify;"><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/AVvXsEh2SWVHkGe19OxPDBtYUgr36egtzMkLH7eEgdtVTWr8nG93ZujbrZN8YjCc_djxgxEdu6Uun_y7pY-LXAdteWXEBGurpmZsKcMHtb_HvXNmW3lWtuwr5aXAmyG_4pzHrxTQsG282YFfahU/s1600/Mohamed+Ould+Cheikh+Ould+Mkhaitir.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir" border="0" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2SWVHkGe19OxPDBtYUgr36egtzMkLH7eEgdtVTWr8nG93ZujbrZN8YjCc_djxgxEdu6Uun_y7pY-LXAdteWXEBGurpmZsKcMHtb_HvXNmW3lWtuwr5aXAmyG_4pzHrxTQsG282YFfahU/s400/Mohamed+Ould+Cheikh+Ould+Mkhaitir.jpg" title="Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir is pictured in a courtroom in<br />Nouadhibou, Mauritania, in April in a picture supplied by his sister. </td></tr></tbody></table><b>Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir awaits the final verdict for a blog seen as critical of Mauritania's caste system.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the dusty Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott, thousands of protesters armed with loudspeakers gathered outside the country’s Supreme Court on November 15. Demonstrators held messages of protests on paper, some worn around their heads to keep their hands free, and demanded the court uphold the death sentence against Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir, a Mauritanian blogger imprisoned in January 2014 on charges of apostasy. His alleged crime was to defame the name of the Prophet Muhammad. “Our first demand [is] to execute this criminal. The Prophet Muhammad is our honor, nobody has right to talk about him!” said one unidentified protester outside the court.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For Mkhaitir’s sister, the scene was almost too much to bear. “When I saw hundreds of people demanding that my brother must be executed, I felt like I could not breath anymore. I wished to be dead [rather] than to see that,” she tells Newsweek in WhatsApp messages sent to and translated by an intermediary. She requested anonymity since she fears reprisals for being associated with her brother. “I asked myself, ‘How can they be like that? Do they not have sisters or mothers? Do they not understand how we feel?’”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While the court set December 20 as the date for a final decision on Mkhaitir’s case, the 29-year-old blogger languished in a cramped cell 300 miles north of the capital in the city of Nouadhibou, isolated from family and legal counsel. His detention looks set to roll into a third year, as the removal of one of the Supreme Court’s judges means that it will likely be 2017 before the court decides whether Mkhaitir will become the first person in Mauritania to be executed for almost 30 years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The bloodthirsty protest in November was the latest instalment in a case that has become a source of national fury in Mauritania, a conservative Islamic republic and one of just eight countries where apostasy is a capital offense. But activists supporting Mkhaitir say that the case is not about Islam, but is rather an example of discrimination. And despite its similarities to more prominent cases—such as that of imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi—Mkhaitir’s supporters say his plight is at risk of being ignored by the international community.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The story goes back to December 2013, when an anonymous article appeared on a Mauritanian news website and circulated via social media. The title of the article was “Religion and Religiosity for Blacksmiths”—the Arabic word <i>maalemine</i>, rendered as blacksmiths, refers in Mauritania to people descended from craftsmen, who are among the lowest in terms of social status. In the article, the author argues that Mauritania’s ruling classes have used incidents from the Prophet Muhammad’s life to justify racial discrimination and slavery.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The article sparked public outcry and Mkhaitir was quickly revealed as its author. Mkhaitir, was by no means a prolific blogger; he worked as an accountant for a loading company in Nouadhibou at the time, according to U.S.-based advocacy group Freedom Now. He turned himself in to police on January 2, 2014, and was charged with apostasy. Eight days later, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz appeared to back calls for Mkhaitir’s execution, telling protesters: “We will apply God’s law on whoever insults the Prophet and whoever publishes such an insult.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mkhaitir was kept in detention for 12 months before his trial commenced in December 2014. Soon after his arrest, he released a public statement repenting of his alleged crime. When his trial finally began in December 2014, Mkhaitir publicly apologized and again repented. Mauritanian law allows for the death sentence to be overturned in the case of a convicted apostate who repents. However, on December 24, 2014, the court sentenced Mkhaitir to death for the crime of zendegha , or “hypocrisy”—according to Mauritanian law, this is the crime of someone committing apostasy and then repenting insincerely. He was sentenced to be executed by firing squad.<br /><br />The blogger appealed and, in April 2016, the Mauritanian court of appeal ruled that the appropriate conviction would have been apostasy, rather than “hypocrisy.” The court of appeal thus transferred the case to the Supreme Court to judge whether Mkhaitir’s repentance was sincere.</div><br /><b><a href="http://europe.newsweek.com/mauritanias-raif-badawi-slips-under-radar-death-penalty-looms-531564" target="_blank">Click here to read the full article</a></b><br /><br />Source: Newsweek, Conor Gaffey, December 19, 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? 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Death penalty looms for Mauritanian blogger accused of insulting Islam

Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir is pictured in a courtroom in Nouadhibou, Mauritania, in April in a picture supplied by his sister. Mohame...

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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? 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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...

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Pakistan: Only 7 % of executions related to terror charges

<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/AVvXsEgKWDk3hNkc-EvNElfdfttOv_CRPz-rIcZFaNqMJkHHRbK2UyybsCjK3QFsw84N4Wt_gNOHCpo43JpoiIU1eLEba1YdAjLmJNNyvydnZRf7asIjNyp5dWYS80w2Q2M3y_-xaL90uA-keAw/s1600/pakistan-lifts-moratorium-on-death-penalty-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Pakistan comes in a world ranking in executions" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKWDk3hNkc-EvNElfdfttOv_CRPz-rIcZFaNqMJkHHRbK2UyybsCjK3QFsw84N4Wt_gNOHCpo43JpoiIU1eLEba1YdAjLmJNNyvydnZRf7asIjNyp5dWYS80w2Q2M3y_-xaL90uA-keAw/s400/pakistan-lifts-moratorium-on-death-penalty-.jpg" title="Pakistan comes in a world ranking in executions" width="340" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"After China and KSA, Pakistan comes in world ranking of executions."</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Since Dec 2014, 426 criminals executed, mostly in cases unrelated to terrorism; after China and KSA, Pakistan comes in world ranking of executions in 2016</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Execution of convicted terrorists", the 1st point in National Action Plan, was included as a deterrent against the terrorists but only 7 % of the total 426 have been executed on the charges of terrorism.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) data shows that from December 2014 to November 2016, only 29 out of 426 people have been executed under the Anti Terrorism Act. Vast majority of the 426 executions carried out since the moratorium was ended for the death penalty in December 2014 has been for crimes unrelated to terrorism.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There is an ideological debate on the issue of execution in the country as one side believes the death penalty serve the purpose of deterrent against crimes. The other side claims that execution can never be a deterrent against the crimes and this could be justified through the crime data of western countries where execution is banned.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The legal and constitutional experts also believe there are legal shortcomings and serious problems in the criminal justice system. Therefore, they say under these circumstances the extreme punishment is unjustified and illegal.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Syed Nayyar Abbas Kazmi was one of person executed after the moratorium was ended for the death penalty. His number was 182 on the list of those who executed in year 2015 and was hanged on July 29, 2015 in Multan jail. He was charged in murder case and arrested in 1996. According to his family, they were in negotiation with the victim's family for settlement but before they reached any agreement he was hanged.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Talking to The News, Syed Naeem Abbas Kazmi brother of Syed Nayyar Abbas, a resident of a small village Kotla Haji Shah (Layyah), said he was 18 when he was jailed and spent 19 years in the jail.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We tried a lot for settlement and were paying the blood money to the bereaved family. Initially they did not agree for the settlement but when he (Nayyar) spent more than 1/2 of his life in jail they agreed for the talks. We were almost in the middle of the negotiation but before we reached an agreement he (Nayyar) was hanged", commented Naeem Shah.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Soon after the terrorists attack on Army Public School Peshawar in December 2014, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif addressed the nation and announced a 20-point National Action Plan (NAP) whereof executing the terrorists was the 1st point.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2014, 7 people were hanged. All of them were executed on terrorism charges. 3 of them were involved in attack on General Musharraf. Dr Usman, the mastermind of GHQ attack and 3 other persons were accused of suicide attack on Musharraf's convoy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Similarly, 333 people were hanged in 2015, out of which 15 were executed on the charges of terrorism whereas the remaining 318 were hanged on murder charges. 3 out of the 15 have been hanged on the charges of attack on Musharraf. 3 have been charged for highjacking PIA plane whereas 4 people have been hanged on the charges of attack on Army Public School Peshawar.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">From January to November 2016, total 86 people have been executed, out of which total 7 were hanged on the charges of terrorism. More than 90 % of the execution occurred in jails of Punjab province. According to the data obtained from Justice Project Pakistan, a local NGO, 46 persons have been hanged in Faisalabad,39 in Rawalpindi, 52 in Lahore, 10 in Karachi, 25 in Multan, 31 in Sahiwal, 33 in Bahawalpur, 4 in Mirpur, 9 in Jhang, 2 in Peshawar, 6 in Jahlum, 7 in Harripur, 5 in Sukkur, 1 in Larkana, 14 in Gujranwala, 13 in Sargodha, 19 in Attock, 6 in Toba Tek Singh, 17 in Mianwali, 7 in Mach, 16 in Gujrat, 9 in Vehari, 17 in Sialkot, 2 in Haiderabad, 9 in DG Khan, 6 in Kasur, 11 in Kohat and one in Teemer Graha.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chairman Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Leader of the House in Senate, Senator Raja Zafarul Haq, while commenting on the execution says, Islam teaches to avoid awarding death penalty at first place and it should be applied as a last resort.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Sometimes perceptions and human errors cause to make mistakes therefore awarding death penalty should be avoided. This is such an extreme punishment which cannot be overturned so easily keeping our criminal and justice system in view. We have seen many cases when people are wrongly executed. Because of having no influence and lack of resources they could not challenge the verdict at the level of apex courts. This is the reason Islam has asked to avoid awarding extreme punishment as 1st choice," Raja Zafarul Haq remarked.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Though there is a proper system of punishments for any crime in Islam but these penalties are used as last resort. For instance there are 12 or 13 precautions which needed to be checked before awarding sentence of cutting hand of a thief. Similarly death penalty is even the extreme punishment which should be avoided unless it is necessary. There are many other ways to control the crimes and bring reforms in the society. The punishment should be awarded keeping justice system and course of evidence in view", he commented.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We need to review the capital punishment law and bring changes in it accordingly keeping our criminal justice system in view," recommended Raja Zafarul Haq.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Analysis of the official data of Lahore High Court for the year 2014 shows that total 1105 execution petitions were instituted across the province whereas 458 petitions were pending from the previous years. The courts disposed of 988 (63 %) execution petitions whereas 575 (37 %) remained pending for the next year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Similarly, the same year 1456 new cases were instituted in anti-terrorism courts whereas 380 cases were pending from the previous years. The courts disposed of 1400 (76 %) cases whereas 436 (24 %) cases remained undecided.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to the Justice Project Pakistan's data, after China and Iran, Pakistan has become the 3rd ranking country in terms of executing people. In 2016, there is no exact data of executions in China, but 57 people hanged in Iran whereas Pakistan has executed 86 and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 93.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The data further shows that till 2013, Pakistan has the largest death row population in the world as total 8,568 were waiting for death penalties. According to JPP's data, total 800 prisoners on death row in Pakistan were tried as 'terrorists'. In 86% of these cases, there was no link to anything reasonably defined as 'terrorism'. Hence, the 'terrorism' cases represent more than 1 in 10 of Pakistan's death row in the figures from 2012. However, this is now estimated to be as high as 30% whereas in the province of Sindh the figure is as much as 40 %. It is pertinent to mention here that there are currently over 17,000 pending 'terrorism' cases in Pakistan</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Barrister Sarah Belal, director Justice Project Pakistan (JPP) believes executions can never serve as deterrent against crimes. This could be justified while analyzing the crime data of entire world as crime has no relation with hanging someone.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Our criminal justice system is full of problems. We have problems in investigation system; there is capacity problem in our police department whereas bribery and political pressures further add to the miseries of the people. How can we execute a person when the criminal justice system is problematic? Therefore first we need to take measures to improve the system and then think about executing the criminals", commented Barrister Sarah.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The government officials on the other hand have a totally different perspective on the death penalty. They claim that policy of execution has proven effective as deterrence against terrorism. According to the official statistics the number of terrorist attacks has decreased from 1,823 in 2014 to 1,009 in 2015. Fatalities from attacks have also decreased from 1,761 in 2014 to 1,081 in 2015.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Source: The News, December 14, 2016<br /><br /><h2>Death penalty: LHC rejects appeals of 7 military court convicts</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The Lahore High Court dismissed on Tuesday the appeals of 7 militants convicted by military courts in cases of targeted killings.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An LHC division bench comprising Justices Shahid Mahmood Abbasi and Shahid Mehmood Sethi dismissed the writ petitions of the 7 convicts associated with proscribed organisations after going through the record of the military court's proceedings and arguments presented in-camera by the federal government.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The military courts had awarded death penalty to Sabir Shah, Abdul Rauf, Awais Gujjar, Suleman Pathan, Rafiullah and Sheikh Farhan, but the heirs of the convicts challenged their sentences before the high court.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On behalf of the appellants, Advocate Ali Zia Bajwa argued the trial of the convicts was under way in anti-terrorism courts when their cases were shifted to the military authorities from Kot Lakhpat jail. Neither the convicts were allowed to meet their families nor given a chance to engage a counsel to defend themselves before the military courts, he added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The counsel contended the families of the convicts only come to know about the military courts' decision through a press release issued by the military's media cell. He requested the court to set aside the conviction by the military courts and acquit the petitioners.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The LHC judges, however, rejected the appeal.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: justify;">Model Town inquiry</h3><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Lahore High Court has dismissed the petition filed by the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) seeking the public release of the judicial inquiry into the Model Town carnage.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Tuesday, an LHC full bench dismissed the plea for making the yet-to-be-released report a part of the religio-political party's private complaint pending in an anti-terrorism court.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Through its complaint, the PAT seeks the trial of prime minister, Punjab chief minister and others on charges of killing 14 party workers in a standoff with Lahore police on June 17, 2014.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">PAT's counsel Rai Bashir Ahmad argued the Punjab government with mala fide intention restricted the publication of the report of the inquiry held by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said if the report became a part of the ATC proceedings, it would strengthen the statements of the witnesses.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The lawyer asked the bench to dismiss an order of the trial court and order it to make the inquiry report a necessary part of the proceedings on the complaint.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Minhajul Quran Administration Director Jawwad Hamid had filed the petition against dismissal of their application by the ATC.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The LHC bench headed by Justice Muhammad Yawar Ali dismissed the petition, announcing a reserved verdict.</div><br />Source: The Express Tribune, December 14, 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? 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Pakistan: Only 7 % of executions related to terror charges

"After China and KSA, Pakistan comes in world ranking of executions." Since Dec 2014, 426 criminals executed, mostly in cases unre...

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