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Three executed in Bahrain

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

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

7:54 AM

Bahrainis protest over fears for three convicts on death row

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy4msNTBH5ch86442X1hdULbc8riaS_Wvputth-3rruWx3FCMQQ9-es0sF6Q2bK6pqrIfrrZh3M9t7c3jzJLNIsQOZCMQ7YbMrWfIQDjyY0-aFd7tbOl1OOtPrN2-QxfpDpr9N9YB_Wv8/s1600/Death+Penalty+News.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy4msNTBH5ch86442X1hdULbc8riaS_Wvputth-3rruWx3FCMQQ9-es0sF6Q2bK6pqrIfrrZh3M9t7c3jzJLNIsQOZCMQ7YbMrWfIQDjyY0-aFd7tbOl1OOtPrN2-QxfpDpr9N9YB_Wv8/s400/Death+Penalty+News.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of the Bahraini capital Manama on Saturday over reports on social media that the authorities may be <a href="http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/2017/01/three-executions-in-bahrain-imminent.html" target="_blank">preparing to execute three Shi'ite men</a> convicted of a deadly 2014 bomb attack.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Executions are rare in Bahrain, a Western allied kingdom tucked between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The authorities have been cracking down on dissent mainly by the Shi'ite majority complaining of discrimination by the island's Sunni rulers. The last execution was carried out in 2008.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Calls for the protests were issued on social media after the families of the three young men - Abbas al-Samea, Sami Mushaima and Ali al-Singace - said they had been summoned to visit their loved ones at Jau prison.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The men, who were convicted in 2015 of a bomb attack that killed three police officers - two Bahrainis and an Emirati - had maintained their innocence and rights groups have said confessions were obtained under torture. Bahrain denies using torture.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Prison authorities did not explain the reason for the summons to the families but gave them a telephone number to collect their sons' personal belongings, according to social media reports.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">News of the possible impending executions prompted calls on social media for protests, drawing hundreds of people onto the streets. Bahraini security forces were seen deploying around areas of tension, including Duraz village, where the spiritual leader of Bahrain's Shi'ites has been confined since authorities revoked his citizenship last year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Footage on social media showed hundreds of men and women marching with placards denouncing the death sentences imposed on the three men.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"No, No to Executions," one poster carried by demonstrators in Duraz read, above pictures of the three men.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There were no reports of clashes between demonstrators and security forces, who were deployed in armored vehicles outside the village, according to social media.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Social media messages said similar protests took place in other Shi'ite villages across Bahrain.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bahrain launched a crackdown on dissidents in June last year, closing down the main Shi'ite Muslim group, al-Wefaq. It has also more than doubled a prison sentence imposed on the head of al-Wefaq, Sheikh Ali Salman, revoked the citizenship of the Shi'ite majority's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Isa Qassim, and arrested prominent activist Nabeel Rajab.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bahrain denies any discrimination against Shi'ites and accuses Iran of fanning unrest in the kingdom, a charge Tehran says is not true.</div><br />Source: Reuters, Sami Aboudi, January 14, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr>   <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td>   <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td>  </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Bahrainis protest over fears for three convicts on death row

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of the Bahraini capital Manama on Saturday over reports on social media that the authorities may ...

10:15 AM

Three executions in Bahrain imminent without urgent action

<div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy4msNTBH5ch86442X1hdULbc8riaS_Wvputth-3rruWx3FCMQQ9-es0sF6Q2bK6pqrIfrrZh3M9t7c3jzJLNIsQOZCMQ7YbMrWfIQDjyY0-aFd7tbOl1OOtPrN2-QxfpDpr9N9YB_Wv8/s1600/Death+Penalty+News.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy4msNTBH5ch86442X1hdULbc8riaS_Wvputth-3rruWx3FCMQQ9-es0sF6Q2bK6pqrIfrrZh3M9t7c3jzJLNIsQOZCMQ7YbMrWfIQDjyY0-aFd7tbOl1OOtPrN2-QxfpDpr9N9YB_Wv8/s400/Death+Penalty+News.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Families of three men on Bahrain's death row fear their executions are about to take place, which would make them the first in the Gulf kingdom since 2010.<br /><br />False confessions obtained under torture were <a href="http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/2017/01/bahrain-cassation-court-upholds-trio.html" target="_blank">used to convict the trio</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This comes just one month after Theresa May's visit to the Gulf, and in the wake of an explicit deprioritisation of human rights in favour of trade. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The legal department at Bahrain's death-row prison called the families of Abbas al-Samea, Sami Mushaima, and Ali al-Singace this morning (14th) and told them to visit the prison today. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The authorities have refused to inform the families of the purpose of the meeting, leading to fears that it may be to inform them that their relatives either have been or will be executed imminently. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bahrain's code of criminal procedure states that under Article 330: “the relatives of the condemned will meet with him on the day appointed for the implementation of the sentence”.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Several unofficial pro-government twitter accounts have tweeted about possible executions, and heightened security measures in Bahrain's prisons have also been observed. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The men's death sentences were upheld by Bahrain's highest court last Monday (9th) with unprecedented speed, removing any legal barrier to their executions and leaving the timing down to the King to decide. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One twitter account which appears to be run by a Bahraini security official claimed this morning that Bahrain's King Hamad has endorsed the executions and that they will take place soon. A former Bahraini MP has welcomed reports that the King has signed off on the executions. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">All of the men were tortured by police after their arrest and at least two say they signed false confessions under duress. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Mushaima was forced to sign documents despite being illiterate. He is a relative of a prominent opposition politician, but has never been involved in activism. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr al-Samea, a school teacher, was admitted to hospital for surgery as a result of his interrogation. He made complaints against the police which were investigated by UK-trained oversight institutions, however they claimed he had wounded himself resisting arrest. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr al-Singace was arrested as a teenager and convicted in absentia. When he was arrested, police tortured him with electric shocks. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The UK government has spent millions of pounds on human rights 'reforms' in Bahrain since protests swept the Kingdom in 2011, training police officers, prison guards at the death row jail and oversight bodies. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><h4>Commenting, Maya Foa, a director of Reprieve, said: </h4></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Reports that Bahrain is set to carry out its first executions in six years, based on confessions extracted through torture, are deeply alarming. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is appalling that the families of those facing execution are being kept in the dark, and do not know whether their loved ones are even still alive. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Britain has provided millions of pounds of funding to supposedly reform Bahrain's justice system. It must intervene to make clear that these executions cannot go ahead.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><h4>Commenting, Sayed AlWadaei, advocacy director of Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, said: </h4></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Bahrain will enter a new dark era if the executions are carried out. This is the most heinous crime committed in Bahrain justice system and a shame to its rulers. This could have been avoided if the UK trained bodies were not complicit in covering up their torture. Bahrain was able to commit those crimes because it felt the international community was silent on its gross human rights violations” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">➤ Reprieve's research into UK support for Bahrain is available <a href="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/BelfastToBahrain.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>, while further detail about the cases is available on request.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: Reprieve, January 14, 2017. Reprieve is an international human rights organization.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr>   <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td>   <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td>  </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Three executions in Bahrain imminent without urgent action

Families of three men on Bahrain's death row fear their executions are about to take place, which would make them the first in the Gulf ...

2:29 AM

Saudi Arabia 'arrests two human rights activists'

<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/AVvXsEi17VPZIY7eGt7MjX2nIL_LwRdI7AbDm7J2_A5cLQyYcmSTaoTGLBxhp9zKFVhhV3RYPCPcc1r3_lsIp7o0Zq_WDBAKg5xz0mygr_F0iLIsAQaxzCo_KDVdSXhYKudWjK6-X_rIDcEeJTY/s1600/hmed+al-Musheikhis+and+Essam+Koshak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Ahmed al-Musheikhis and Essam Koshak" border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi17VPZIY7eGt7MjX2nIL_LwRdI7AbDm7J2_A5cLQyYcmSTaoTGLBxhp9zKFVhhV3RYPCPcc1r3_lsIp7o0Zq_WDBAKg5xz0mygr_F0iLIsAQaxzCo_KDVdSXhYKudWjK6-X_rIDcEeJTY/s400/hmed+al-Musheikhis+and+Essam+Koshak.jpg" title="Ahmed al-Musheikhis and Essam Koshak" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ahmed al-Musheikhis and Essam Koshak</td></tr></tbody></table>The authorities in Saudi Arabia have arrested two human rights activists so far this year, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Essam Koshak and Ahmed al-Musheikhis were summoned for questioning by police in Mecca and Qatif last week.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Officials have not disclosed the reasons for the detentions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/01/11/saudi-arabia-2-rights-advocates-arrested" target="_blank">HRW said</a> they "fit a pattern of ongoing repression" against peaceful advocates and dissidents, at least 25 of whom have been convicted since 2011.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Many have been handed sentences as long as 10 or 15 years after being found guilty of charges including "breaking allegiance with the ruler", "sowing discord", "inciting public opinion", "setting up an unlicensed organisation", and violating the cybercrime law.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><h3>'Relentless persecution'</h3></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Koshak was detained after being summoned for interrogation by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Mecca on 8 January.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The 45-year-old was not allowed to appoint a lawyer and was being questioned about his Twitter account, which he mainly used to tweet about human rights issues,<a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/01/saudi-arabia-steps-up-ruthless-crackdown-against-human-rights-activists/" target="_blank">according to Amnesty</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Musheikhis, a founding member of the unregistered Adala Centre for Human Rights, was telephoned by CID officers and told to report to a police station in Qatif, in Eastern Province, on 5 January. He was subsequently transferred to the city of Dammam, where he remains in custody.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Amnesty said the 46-year-old was known for his work including helping relatives of those detained in Eastern Province as part of protests by members of the kingdom's Shia Muslim minority against what they say is discrimination against them by the Sunni-led government.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Musheikhis' brother, Yussuf, was <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde23/5236/2016/en/" target="_blank">sentenced to death</a> in January 2016 after being convicted of offences including "armed rebellion against the ruler". Amnesty said Yussuf al-Musheikhis was convicted after a grossly unfair trial at which he claimed he was tortured into "confessing".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Amnesty said another activist, Issa al-Nukheifi, had been detained in Mecca since 18 December after being summoned for questioning about his tweets.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Saudi Arabia's relentless persecution of human rights defenders is a blatant campaign aimed at deterring them from speaking about the human rights situation in the country and working on behalf of victims of violations," said Lynn Maalouf of Amnesty's Beirut office.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Saudi government has in the past insisted that its judiciary is independent, and that all trials are transparent and in line with Islamic law.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">HRW also reported on Tuesday that the Saudi authorities had recently banned Jamal Khashoggi, one of the country's most prominent journalists, from publishing any of his writings in the country.</div><br />Source: <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-38583673" target="_blank">BBC News</a>, January 11, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr>   <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td>   <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td>  </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Saudi Arabia 'arrests two human rights activists'

Ahmed al-Musheikhis and Essam Koshak The authorities in Saudi Arabia have arrested two human rights activists so far this year, Human Rights...

4:22 AM

Mixed Messages on the Death Penalty in Indonesia's Drug War

<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/AVvXsEgTWzOmYhoFp-0HE_DrROfCTJOO6_RcSXhSNfc_s7-Vc73quAPAOEzVRF2lTYFDYbs5mt974YBVQdnFzxO3Fj8lYP-5uFjvqzUIBdA1QMDxszJaxC85DY4bTlQNv1KbXLRe-mn53YZGRa0/s1600/Duterte+Widodo+Indonesia+9+SEPT+2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Philippine President R. Duterte (left) and Indonesian President J. Widodo" border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTWzOmYhoFp-0HE_DrROfCTJOO6_RcSXhSNfc_s7-Vc73quAPAOEzVRF2lTYFDYbs5mt974YBVQdnFzxO3Fj8lYP-5uFjvqzUIBdA1QMDxszJaxC85DY4bTlQNv1KbXLRe-mn53YZGRa0/s400/Duterte+Widodo+Indonesia+9+SEPT+2016.jpg" title="Philippine President R. Duterte (left) and Indonesian President J. Widodo" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Philippine President R. Duterte (left) and Indonesian President J. Widodo</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Indonesian authorities are sending mixed messages on the death penalty. The country abstained on a UN resolution for its abolition, and the president hinted at ending it, but some senior political figures are calling for the increased execution of drug offenders.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On December 19, 2016, Indonesia was one of 31 countries that abstained from voting on a UN resolution that called for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, the Jakarta Post reports. The UN has voted on a resolution on abolishing the death penalty every 2 years since 2008. Indonesia has abstained on every such resolution since 2012; prior to this, it had consistently voted <i>against </i>the measures.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Human rights advocates, including the Human Rights Working Group, praised the government's abstention, as Indonesia has built a reputation as a prolific executioner of non-violent drug offenders under President Joko Widodo.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Between 2010 and 2014, despite numerous people being sentenced to death in Indonesia, no executions took place [NB: 5 executions were indeed carried out in Indonesia in 2013: <a href="http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.fr/2013/03/indonesia-execution-of-adami-wilson.html" target="_blank">Adami Wilson</a>, <a href="http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.fr/2013/05/indonesia-executes-three-murderers.html" target="_blank">Suryadi Swabhuana, Jurit bin Abdullah, Ibrahim bin Ujang</a>, <a href="http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.fr/2013/11/indonesia-fifth-execution-confirms.html" target="_blank">Muhammad Abdul Hafeez</a>. No executions were carried out between 2009 and 2012. -- DPN]. This changed after Widodo entered office in October 2014, since which 18 people have been executed - all for drug trafficking.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Many of those executed were foreigners whose respective governments engaged in futile diplomatic efforts to reduce their citizens' sentences. At least 2 death row inmates, including one who was executed last year, accused law enforcement of torture during their interrogation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Despite Widodo's renewal of the death penalty, he recently hinted at potential reform. In an interview with ABC News in November 2016, the president said, "We are very open to options. I don't know when but we want to move towards that direction [of abolishing capital punishment]."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While Widodo's remarks suggest that human rights progress may be on the horizon for Indonesia, statements from other authorities paint a far darker picture of the future of the country's drug policy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo stated in early December that executions were planned "in the near future", and that the state would be prioritising people convicted of drug-related crimes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In December, Budi Waseso - chief of the country's National Narcotics Agency (BNN) - told members of a new regional counter-narcotic taskforce, "Don't hesitate to shoot drug traffickers, drug dealers and drug users. Anyone involved in drug trafficking should be punished harshly, including traitors in the BNN body".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With echoes of President Rodrigo Duterte's calls for the slaughter of alleged drug offenders in the Philippines, Waseso's remarks suggest that a striking intensification of the Indonesian approach to drug policy may occur.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Indonesian NGOs have repeatedly urged the government to officially end the death penalty, pointing out the lack of evidence for its supposed deterrent effect, and arguing that it contributes to societal harms.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ardhany Suryadarma, Policy Manager for the EU-funded project, Asia Action on Harm Reduction, proclaimed: "These executions only exacerbate the stigmatisation of people who use drugs, driving them underground, and away from [harm reduction interventions, which] ... keep individuals safer and curb the HIV epidemic."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The country has, seemingly, reached a crossroads, and the next step that it takes in regard to the death penalty will clarify its place in a region that is increasingly divided on the matter.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For example, Malaysia seems to have introduced a secret moratorium on capital punishment for drug-related offences.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Conversely, President Duterte's state-mandated violence against people allegedly involved with drugs has left at least 6,000 people dead in the Philippines since July 2016. Despite international condemnation, his government advocates the continuation of his lethal campaign.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There are clearly conflicting ideologies between different authorities in Indonesia, and it is unclear which path the government will take. The country is currently at a crossroads: will Widodo stay true to his word and move towards adherence to the UN resolution? Will Indonesia return to its traditional approach of state-mandated executions? Or will it begin implementing extrajudicial killings as seen in the Philippines?</div><br />Source: talkingdrugs.org, January 10, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr>   <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td>   <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td>  </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Mixed Messages on the Death Penalty in Indonesia's Drug War

Philippine President R. Duterte (left) and Indonesian President J. Widodo Indonesian authorities are sending mixed messages on the death pen...

5:55 AM

Bahrain: Cassation Court upholds trio death sentence

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTJyeEh7GFhdCSctM7GA91pCh1Fyz0xA4xRyg3GlzdnPi19cOmR2eX2ElXEi09RVyj5ZNahjtbOOlyUB7-JUr384thNM1N3Ft9O6fGiOVRCshhfqC72QZY3X3YIHme8JiXwzotdpGxI9I/s1600/Bahrain+Cassation+Court.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Bahrain Cassation Court" border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTJyeEh7GFhdCSctM7GA91pCh1Fyz0xA4xRyg3GlzdnPi19cOmR2eX2ElXEi09RVyj5ZNahjtbOOlyUB7-JUr384thNM1N3Ft9O6fGiOVRCshhfqC72QZY3X3YIHme8JiXwzotdpGxI9I/s400/Bahrain+Cassation+Court.jpg" title="Bahrain Cassation Court" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Manama, Jan. 9 (BNA): Advocate General at the Public Prosecution's Technical Office, Haroon Alzayani, said the Court of Cassation today ruled in the case of murder of first-lieutenant Tareq Mohammed Al Shehi and policemen Mohammed Raslan and Ammar Abdu Ali Mohammed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Cassation Court accepted the objection in form and rejected it in substance, upholding the death penalty ruling against the three main convicts. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The crime dates back to 3 March 2014 when the suspects planted an explosive device, lured the policemen to its location and detonated the device killing the three policemen.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Eight terror suspects were referred to the Criminal Court, of whom five were in custody and three were still at large.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The suspects were charged with organizing, running a terror group aimed to undermine the provisions of the Constitution, prevent official institutions from working, and pursued terror blasts to achieve their purposes. They recruited elements and carried out the activities of manufacturing, detonating explosive devices and targeted the public security men to kill them so as weaken the state, stir unrest and topple the regime. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The suspects from the third to the eighth were charged with joining the terror group. They along with the second suspect implemented terroristic activities and committed the crimes of murder and attempted murdering of policemen, damaged public properties, possessed, stored, handled and used explosive substances. They committed all of these crimes to achieve terroristic purposes in addition to funding their terror group and financing its activities.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The High Criminal Court deliberated the case and sentenced three suspects with death penalty and the remaining suspects with life in jail and stripping the nationality of some of them, which was also upheld by the Court of Appeals.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The case was referred to the Court of Cassation in compliance with the provisions of Bahraini law which considers a death sentence automatically subject to referral to the Court of Cassation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Court of Cassation earlier cancelled the sentence and returned the case to the Court of Appeal to consider it anew. The case was deliberated by the latter court which upheld the same sentence in view of the incontestable material and verbal evidences and referred the case to the Court of Cassation once again which ruled as above by rejecting the objection and upholding the sentence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Source: Bahrain News Agency, January 9, 2017<br /><br /><br /><h2>Bahrain uses torture evidence to sentence three more to death</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Bahrain’s highest court has today (9th January) upheld the death sentences of three men, despite allegations that they were tortured into making false confessions. Their executions are now imminent.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Abbas al-Samea, Sami Mushaima, and Ali al-Singace were originally sentenced to death in February 2015.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">All three were tortured into signing false ‘confessions’ that were used against them in court.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Mushaima was forced to sign documents despite being illiterate. He is a relative of a prominent opposition politician, but has never been involved in activism.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr al-Samea was admitted to hospital for surgery as a result of his interrogation. He is a PE teacher and aspiring photojournalist who had taken pictures at a protest.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The three men’s death sentences were overturned in October 2016 after a court ruled that their initial sentences were “misjudgements.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, in December 2016, the appeals court reinstated their death sentences.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Human rights organization Reprieve wrote to Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May asking her to raise the issue of police torture and the death penalty ahead of her meeting in Bahrain last month.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Millions of pounds in UK government aid have been spent on training Bahrain’s police, prison guards and torture watchdog in recent years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Commenting, Maya Foa, a director of Reprieve, said:</div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">“It is extremely alarming that Bahrain, a close ally of Britain, is gearing up to execute three people, all of whom were convicted on the basis of false ‘confessions’ extracted through torture. Abbas al-Samea, Sami Mushaima, and Ali al-Singace will be the first people to be executed in Bahrain in six years. All three were charged with political offences and tortured into signing ‘confessions’ that were used against them in court - despite one of them being illiterate and not able to read the document. On her recent visit to Bahrain, Theresa May said that the UK 'does not uphold our values and human rights by turning our back on this issue' yet apparently declined to raise the cases of these prisoners facing imminent execution. The UK must do more to ensure its close allies do not render them complicit in the gravest abuses.”</blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><div><ul><li>The full text of the letter to the Prime Minister is available <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" target="_blank">on Reprieve’s website</a>.</li><li>Reprieve's research into UK support for Bahrain is available <a href="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/BelfastToBahrain.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>, while further detail about the cases is available on request.</li></ul></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: Reprieve, January 9, 2017. Reprieve is an international human rights organization.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><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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Bahrain: Cassation Court upholds trio death sentence

Manama, Jan. 9 (BNA): Advocate General at the Public Prosecution's Technical Office, Haroon Alzayani, said the Court of Cassation today ...

2:56 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? 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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

Saudi executions pass 150 this year, nearing 2015 total

<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/AVvXsEhPqWs1key3STc6Nk2cYxxQnQBBmzx0gjkUNWbKNHqoprDKDyHQgeb0NYp95HHn6o_fdAU3nsxG_lHmBi238Wsmm1x5Nt7fcVRRuAlZH_nGtPd8EyB8AIC7ujARV7UMpYxZWzmMNHaTi9g/s1600/Public+execution+Saudi+Arabia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Public execution in Saudi Arabia" border="0" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPqWs1key3STc6Nk2cYxxQnQBBmzx0gjkUNWbKNHqoprDKDyHQgeb0NYp95HHn6o_fdAU3nsxG_lHmBi238Wsmm1x5Nt7fcVRRuAlZH_nGtPd8EyB8AIC7ujARV7UMpYxZWzmMNHaTi9g/s400/Public+execution+Saudi+Arabia.jpg" title="Public execution in Saudi Arabia" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Public execution in Saudi Arabia</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Saudi Arabia has executed at least 153 people this year, nearing last  year's record high of 158, according to figures collated by human rights  organization Reprieve.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Among those executed this year were at least 4 juveniles who were killed  as part of a mass execution of 47 people in January this year. One of  them, Ali al-Ribh, was arrested in school, tortured into a false  ‘confession’ to protest-related charges, and executed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The high number of executions raises fresh concerns for the fate of  three other juveniles who have been sentenced to death – Ali al-Nimr, <a href="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/case-study/dawood-al-marhoon/" style="color: #06686b;" target="_blank">Dawood al-Marhoon</a> and Abdullah al Zaher. The trio were arrested as children in the wake  of protests, and tortured into ‘confessions’. They could be executed at  any time, without notification to their families.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It has also emerged the juveniles continue to be mistreated on death  row. According to reports, prison guards recently beat Dawood and  threatened him with solitary confinement after he submitted a complaint  about a previous instance of abuse. The health of the three juveniles is  said to be suffering amid poor prison conditions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some 47 of those who were executed this year were tried in the country’s  secretive ‘Specialized Criminal Court’. Reprieve has raised concerns  that the court is routinely used to try people who were arrested in  relation to political protests, including the three juveniles, and a  disabled young man named Munir Adam. Hearings often take place without a  lawyer, and forced ‘confessions’ extracted under torture are frequently  admitted as evidence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to the figures, 23 of those executed this year were arrested  for drug offences – of these, 14 were foreign nationals. Previous <a href="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/case-study/the-death-penalty-in-saudi-arabia/" style="color: #06686b;" target="_blank">research</a> by Reprieve has found that many of those held on Saudi Arabia’s death  row for drug-related offences are trafficking victims, who were forced  to carry drugs into the Gulf from overseas.   </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The figures are released as Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood meets with King Salman in Riyadh. Reprieve has <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" style="color: #06686b;" target="_blank">written</a> to Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson,  asking them to seek a commutation of the death sentences handed to  juveniles and political protestors.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mrs May said in a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/dec/07/theresa-may-calls-on-gulf-leaders-to-press-on-with-economic-reforms" style="color: #06686b;" target="_blank">speech</a> to the Gulf Cooperation Council earlier this month that the UK would  help Gulf countries to “reform” and to “embed international norms.”  However, she reportedly failed to raise individual cases during a  meeting with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Commenting, Maya Foa, a director at Reprieve, said:  “Saudi Arabia’s 2016 execution toll is fast approaching last year’s  shocking high, with some 153 prisoners killed. Among those executed were  political protestors, people arrested for alleged drug offences,  prisoners who were tortured into ‘confessions’, and juveniles.  Meanwhile, Dawood al-Marhoon, who was arrested as a child and who  languishes on death row, is being subjected to threats and beatings.  These appalling abuses give the lie to the Prime Minister’s claim that  the UK’s engagement with Saudi Arabia promotes ‘reform’. The Government  must urgently use its ever-closer relationship with Saudi Arabia to  secure genuine change – this includes the release of juveniles facing  the death penalty, like Dawood.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The total number of executions in 2016 so far is estimated at 153. In  2015, the figure was 158; while in 2014 the total number of executions  was estimated at 87. A breakdown of Reprieve's figures is available on  request.</div><br /><br />Source: Reprieve, December 19, 2016. Reprieve is an international human rights organization.<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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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

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