Happy New Year

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Happy New Year

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Pat Scott Dykas Died At A Milwaukee Southside Speedway Gas Station, Circumstances Unclear

<div class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtjkCUuuA3SgJbPbQWuJln-3RIoHY13dagqBa0VCbfpWNmRb-ol4IYgo_souHhlAm5TAKl1rpSfvMrIR_y_ms_9o2IGnLs6ltc5HG5PUdb9xjym5dpk8cyicca3LgyhYbIJAV5s4YQ5gg/s1600/Pat+Scott+Dykas-786586.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6370396804849378258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtjkCUuuA3SgJbPbQWuJln-3RIoHY13dagqBa0VCbfpWNmRb-ol4IYgo_souHhlAm5TAKl1rpSfvMrIR_y_ms_9o2IGnLs6ltc5HG5PUdb9xjym5dpk8cyicca3LgyhYbIJAV5s4YQ5gg/s320/Pat+Scott+Dykas-786586.jpg" /></a></div>Dykas had been released from the Milwaukee County House of Corrections hours earlier before his death at a local Southside Speedway gas station in Milwaukee.<br /><div><br /></div><div>By H. Nelson Goodson</div><div>Hispanic News Network U.S.A.</div><div><br /></div><div>December 31, 2016</div><div><br /></div><div>Milwaukee, WI - On Friday, Pat Scott Dykas, 27, apparently died at a local Southside Milwaukee Speedway gas station at 959 W. Lincoln Ave. Police and fire fighters responded to a call at around 6:34 p.m. for a reported injury or sick person. The Speedway gas station was closed and police placed yellow tape around the immediate area of the gas station.</div><div>Police continue to investigate Dykas death and it is still unclear how Dykas died. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office hasn't released any information either relating to Dykas death.</div><div>Hispanic News Network U.S.A. (HNNUSA) contacted Speedway staff on Saturday, no information was provided, but the person who answered at Speedway stated that it wasn't a robbery and couldn't elaborate further about what happened. Police have not released any information about Dykas death.</div><div>According to information, Dykas had been released hours earlier from the Milwaukee County House of Corrections on Friday before his reported death at the Speedway gas station.</div><div><br /></div>A Gofundme has been created for Pat Dykas funeral expenses at <a href="http://bit.ly/2jlXAxS">http://bit.ly/2jlXAxS</a><br /><br />

Pat Scott Dykas Died At A Milwaukee Southside Speedway Gas Station, Circumstances Unclear

Dykas had been released from the Milwaukee County House of Corrections hours earlier before his death at a local Southside Speedway gas stat...

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Social Security Employee Pleads Guilty

<br />     From the Times of San Diego:<br /><br /><br />A Social Security Administration <br />employee who accepted payments and had the authority to waive money owed<br /> to the government by overpaid beneficiaries pleaded guilty Thursday to <br />stealing money orders and depositing them into his own checking account. <br /><br />Josue Edgardo Castro, of San Ysidro, faces up to 10 years in prison <br />and a fine of up to $250,000 when he

Social Security Employee Pleads Guilty

     From the Times of San Diego: A Social Security Administration employee who accepted payments and had the authority to waive money owed ...

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Mexico's PEMEX 20% Gasoline Price Increase Ignites National Transport Blockade A Day After New Year's Day

<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAd86lh-2yQMotZKohycGZ8vAzwWfeWGeSHjEcbUc4M26QofIJXdQ7mos2xdcFx4DtDGL0Nxp5WRNfaII4TQPqmmDs4flU3bWovY-h3ufQXsphonWdc7G8UoZ8zJzMxsXME8CCXbY3piI/s1600/PEMEX+20%2525+gasoline+increase+for+2017-729295.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6369982094581090850" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAd86lh-2yQMotZKohycGZ8vAzwWfeWGeSHjEcbUc4M26QofIJXdQ7mos2xdcFx4DtDGL0Nxp5WRNfaII4TQPqmmDs4flU3bWovY-h3ufQXsphonWdc7G8UoZ8zJzMxsXME8CCXbY3piI/s320/PEMEX+20%2525+gasoline+increase+for+2017-729295.jpg" /></a></p>Chihuahua joins the National Transport blockade to protest a federal 20% increase of PEMEX gasoline prices in Mexico.<div><br></div><div>By H. Nelson Goodson</div><div>Hispanic News Network U.S.A.</div><div><br></div><div>December 30, 2016<br dir="auto"><br dir="auto">Chihuahua, Mexico - All roads, highways and train travel routes in Chihuahua, Mexico will be blocked on Monday, January 2, 2017 starting around 7:00 a.m. for a national protest of a federal 20% increase of PEMEX gasoline prices approved by the Mexican Congress and the Peña Nieto government, according to El Barzón, a civil social rights organization in Chihuahua. Only police emergency vehicles, first responders and ambulances will be permited to cross citizen blockades around the State of Chihuahua and other states involved in the national protest.<br dir="auto"><br dir="auto">On January 1, 2017, the monopoly national gasoline PEMEX Company will increase gasoline prices per liter by 20% under a federal law passed by the Mexican Congress and President Enrique Peña Nieto.<br dir="auto"><br dir="auto">• Magna (Regular gas): $15.99 pesos per liter (U.S. $0.77) +14.2% increase <br dir="auto">• Premium: $17.79 pesos per liter (U.S. $0.85) +20.1% increase <br dir="auto">• Diesel: $17.05 pesos per liter (U.S. $0.82) +16.5% increase <br dir="auto"></div>

Mexico's PEMEX 20% Gasoline Price Increase Ignites National Transport Blockade A Day After New Year's Day

Chihuahua joins the National Transport blockade to protest a federal 20% increase of PEMEX gasoline prices in Mexico. By H. Nelson Goodson H...

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Florida's death penalty system will face renewed stress in 2017

<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/AVvXsEhfa-zDWS01p-6_-EybgwT-GrmbtB6wUP4WFrHxNZ5fEOW8GqQXFmcj2YEWRwrNBxONmBko_Xr5xdqE0F72ZtR5pjUDfPRRUp0_qNw2rJo6jo3K6ucnDepGtsHd8bFTioV1ntXtJiTKzQM/s1600/Florida+death+chamber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Florida's death chamber" border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfa-zDWS01p-6_-EybgwT-GrmbtB6wUP4WFrHxNZ5fEOW8GqQXFmcj2YEWRwrNBxONmBko_Xr5xdqE0F72ZtR5pjUDfPRRUp0_qNw2rJo6jo3K6ucnDepGtsHd8bFTioV1ntXtJiTKzQM/s400/Florida+death+chamber.jpg" title="Florida's death chamber" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Florida's death chamber</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">TALLAHASSEE — Florida's death penalty system, under sustained legal assault for the past year, faces renewed pressure in 2017 that will strain courts, victims and taxpayers in ways sure to rekindle a debate over capital punishment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A series of federal and state court rulings will bring upheaval to a system long criticized for racial disparities and for seemingly endless and unjust delays. Now the state must confront the enormous impact of a case known as Hurst vs. Florida, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that constitutional rights of defendants were violated because their juries had too little say in recommending sentences of death.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Applying the Hurst case to Florida — the state with the second most death row inmates at 384 — the state Supreme Court decided that about half of those inmates should still face execution.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Those inmates were sentenced before 2002, when another case, Ring vs. Arizona, found that it was unconstitutional for a judge instead of a jury to find the facts necessary to impose the death penalty. At the time, the Florida Supreme Court decided the Ring decision did not apply because Florida had a different sentencing scheme and that in another case, the nation's highest court upheld the constitutionality of Florida's system.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But the other half of the death row population — most inmates sentenced after Ring in 2002 — could be resentenced to life without parole, depending on the facts in each case, because they were condemned to die under a law ruled unconstitutional by the Hurst case.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Attorney General Pam Bondi will continue to seek to carry out as many death sentences as possible, arguing that any previous sentencing errors were legally harmless. But as a flurry of post-Hurst appeals clogs the courts, legal experts foresee an expensive and, for the families of victims, agonizingly painful review of as many as 200 cases in which defendants seek sentences of life without parole.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Two hundred do-overs," said Robert Dunham of the Death Penalty Information Center, a national group critical of how states, especially Florida, carry out the death penalty. "There are not enough judges, court personnel, prosecutors or defense lawyers to timely move these cases forward."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That's not all. A pro-death penalty Legislature must fix the law a second time after the Florida Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional a provision that does not require all 12 jurors to agree on a death sentence when they recommend punishment to a judge who issues the final life-or-death verdict.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Because jury recommendations of death in Florida are usually not unanimous, the practical effect will be more do-overs, with new sentencing hearings in dozens of cases.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Prosecutors will have to track down old trial transcripts and witnesses, and families of victims will have to endure a public spectacle of some of the state's most horrific crimes a second time.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's an absolute nightmare for these families," said Bruce Bartlett, the chief assistant state attorney in Pinellas County. "And it's a logistical nightmare for us as you've got to reconstruct all these cases."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bartlett identified nine cases in his Pinellas-Pasco circuit alone in which death row inmates could be resentenced to life because of split decisions by juries that recommended death.</div><b><a href="http://web.tampabay.com/news/politics/legislature/floridas-death-penalty-system-will-face-renewed-stress-in-2017/2307829" target="_blank"><br /></a></b><b><a href="http://web.tampabay.com/news/politics/legislature/floridas-death-penalty-system-will-face-renewed-stress-in-2017/2307829" target="_blank">Click here to read the full article</a></b><br /><br />Source: Tampa Bay Times, Steve Bousquet, December 30, 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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Florida's death penalty system will face renewed stress in 2017

Florida's death chamber TALLAHASSEE — Florida's death penalty system, under sustained legal assault for the past year, faces renewed...

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Man Arrested For Bringing Pistol Into Social Security Office

<br /><br />     A man was arrested yesterday after bringing a pistol into the Social Security field office in Mobile, AL.<br /><br />

Man Arrested For Bringing Pistol Into Social Security Office

     A man was arrested yesterday after bringing a pistol into the Social Security field office in Mobile, AL.

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Pakistan to hang 'butcher of Swat' Muslim Khan

<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/AVvXsEiS6UX9B5NAolsP-_3AO63_l3_vW5wfpUBkqm4Yd7LTVbK8hF2rz1BWky2lHay_alvXSh8k1LuV5GI64521vD2GaNYQPUSGrUo8UIf24bSfl1YjP7glGw3eyQi_DZfRWvG_0kU53gkqlx8/s1600/Muslim+Khan+was+the+face+of+the+Swat+Taliban+for+many+months+PAKISTAN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Muslim Khan was the face of the Swat Taliban for many months" border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS6UX9B5NAolsP-_3AO63_l3_vW5wfpUBkqm4Yd7LTVbK8hF2rz1BWky2lHay_alvXSh8k1LuV5GI64521vD2GaNYQPUSGrUo8UIf24bSfl1YjP7glGw3eyQi_DZfRWvG_0kU53gkqlx8/s400/Muslim+Khan+was+the+face+of+the+Swat+Taliban+for+many+months+PAKISTAN.jpg" title="Muslim Khan was the face of the Swat Taliban for many months" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Muslim Khan was the face of the Swat Taliban for many months.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">A military court in Pakistan has sentenced a top Pakistani Taliban leader from the Swat region to death.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Muslim Khan, a former spokesman for the militants, was convicted of killing 31 people, including civilians and security personnel, the military said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He is among eight "terrorists" whose death penalty was confirmed by army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The military courts were set up in the aftermath of the 2014 Peshawar school massacre. Their term expires next week.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Others whose convictions were confirmed by the army chief on Wednesday include four gunmen sentenced for involvement in a 2015 bus massacre of Ismaili Shias in Karachi, and the assassination of social activist Sabeen Mahmud, also in Karachi the same year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: justify;">Why 'butcher of Swat'?</h3><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Muslim Khan, 62, started out as a student activist of a left-wing secular party in the 1960s, but underwent an ideological transformation in the early 1990s when a pre-Taliban Islamist movement briefly emerged in his native Swat region.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2007, he became the chief spokesman of the Swat Taliban, and was the movement's public face during its stranglehold over the region which continued until the winter of 2009.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">His forceful defence of the Taliban's policy of killings, beheadings and the destruction of schools in Swat earned him and Swat Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah the title of "butcher of Swat".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The military's statement described him as "a spokesman of a proscribed organisation [who] was involved in killing innocent civilians, attacking armed forces and law enforcement agencies of Pakistan".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">These attacks resulted in the death of 31 people and injuries to 69 others, the statement said, adding that he was involved in "slaughtering" four soldiers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"He was also involved in kidnapping two Chinese engineers and a local civilian for ransom. The convict admitted his offences before the Magistrate and the trial court. He was awarded the death sentence."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A former BBC Urdu correspondent, Abdul Hai Kakar, who met him in September 2009, reported that he spoke several languages, including Urdu, English, Arabic and Persian, in addition to his mother tongue Pashto.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He had lived in or travelled across more than a dozen countries in the Middle East, Europe, the US and the Far East.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He has been in custody since his arrest in 2009 during the military operation that drove the Taliban out of Swat.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: justify;">Was the trial fair?</h3><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The military court trials are held in secret, and prisoners on trial are held in internment centres run by the military, away from the mainstream jail population.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Scores of suspects have been convicted by the military courts since they were set up in January 2015 - obtaining accurate information is difficult because secrecy makes it almost impossible to scrutinise the process.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dawn newspaper said more than 270 cases had been sent to the military courts in the past two years. They gave death sentences to 161 people, while 116 were given jail terms, mostly life sentences.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A report by the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) in June had a lower figure, saying the military courts had convicted 81 people during the 18 months of their existence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So far only 12 suspects have been executed by the military courts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Others have gone to the courts to challenge the fairness of the trials, but judges have failed to intervene.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The ICJ has accused the Pakistani authorities of failing to make public key information about the trials, with similar objections raised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and other groups.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The BBC asked the Interior Ministry for information on cases tried by the military courts but has not yet received a response.</div><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><br />What happens to military courts now?</h3><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The convictions made public on Wednesday are believed to be the last by military courts before their legal term expires in January 2017.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is not clear if their term will be extended.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Elements within the military want the term of the military courts extended, believing the government is not up to dealing with terrorism-related offences.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But rights groups and some political circles say law and order has improved and the justification for military courts no longer exists.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Source: <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38462706" target="_blank">BBC News</a>, December 29, 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 to hang 'butcher of Swat' Muslim Khan

Muslim Khan was the face of the Swat Taliban for many months. A military court in Pakistan has sentenced a top Pakistani Taliban leader from...

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Jordan: Five ISIS militants, four drug traffickers sentenced to death

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGaoZq7QNEnAnhKYsUEkPyY5wp-9pq2pzeXualAPariFsq3o0hwiPmidpqhLjiE_KNibnxC3ozRfHx7j4G-CxbomzvK92gc-A-sPPISlnndNhJifJxFG4ZYShIlLkYI0smRR4xUYvHtzo/s1600/Jordanian_Police_Officers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Jordanian police officers" border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGaoZq7QNEnAnhKYsUEkPyY5wp-9pq2pzeXualAPariFsq3o0hwiPmidpqhLjiE_KNibnxC3ozRfHx7j4G-CxbomzvK92gc-A-sPPISlnndNhJifJxFG4ZYShIlLkYI0smRR4xUYvHtzo/s400/Jordanian_Police_Officers.jpg" title="Jordanian police officers" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">December 28, 2016: A Jordanian court sentenced five members of an ISIL cell to death by hanging for acts of terrorism. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state security court in Amman also handed jail terms of between three and 15 years to another 16 Jordanians in the same case. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They were found guilty of deadly "acts of terrorism", the manufacture of explosives and "possession of weapons and ammunition for use in terrorist acts" and recruiting people for "terrorist organisations". </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The group of 21 were members of an ISIL cell that was broken up in March during a large-scale security operation in the northern town of Irbid, near the border with Syria. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Seven suspected militants and a member of the Jordanian security forces were killed during the operation. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The authorities announced later that they had foiled ISIL attacks in the kingdom, which had already been hit by deadly attacks over the past year. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ten people were killed in a shooting rampage on December 18 in the popular tourist destination of Karak. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The attack was claimed by ISIL and marked the first time the group had targeted civilians in Jordan. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Two days later, the authorities arrested a man suspected of funding the attack in a raid on a house in Karak province.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">December 26, 2016: A state security court sentenced four Jordanians to death for murdering a member of the security forces involved in the fight against drugs trafficking, a judicial source said. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, the source said the four were sentenced to die by hanging for killing the policeman in September in Aqaba province some 300 kilometres (180 miles) south of Amman. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The four were also convicted of "possession of automatic weapons... leading to the death of a person", the source added. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A fifth defendant in the same case was sentenced to 18 months in jail for possessing an unlicensed firearm. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The policeman had been taking part in an operation to arrest a person accused of drugs possession when he was fired on by gunmen in two cars. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In August, the authorities said more than six tonnes of illegal drugs had been seized and more than 13,000 people suspected of smuggling, possessing or using drugs were arrested during the first half of the year. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The interior ministry says 85 percent of drugs seized in Jordan are destined to be smuggled abroad. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: Agence France-Presse, December 26-28, 2016<br /><br /><br /><h2 style="text-align: left;">Security Court hands down death sentence for killer of slain writer Nahed Hattar</h2><br />December 20, 2016: Jordan's Deputy Director General of the State Security Court sentenced the killer of writer Nahed Hattar to death by hanging, al-Ghad newspaper reported. <br /><br />Military judge Ziad al-Adwan added in a statement that the court had also investigated a second defendant who sold the weapon to the murderer, and a third defendant who acted as a middle-man in buying the weapon. Each were sentenced to one year in jail and fines. <br /><br />Riad Ismail Abdullah, the primary suspect in Hattar's murder was convicted on charges of carrying out acts of terrorism, murder, and carrying and possession of a firearm without a license. <br /><br />Hattar was gunned down on September 25 on the steps of the supreme court, and Abdullah was arrested immediately after committing the crime. <br /><br />The prosecutor general of the State Security Court concluded its investigation on October 18 and referred the case file to the court for sentencing.<br /><br />Source: albawaba.com, December 20, 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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Jordan: Five ISIS militants, four drug traffickers sentenced to death

December 28, 2016: A Jordanian court sentenced five members of an ISIL cell to death by hanging for acts of terrorism. The state security co...

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Nigeria: Edo State Executes Three Inmates

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtYDjyxtdwKsyRyEdu5ugEeDNX4J-K5-nZrFgXj5Ii8vDzMtEW0lU4CD9MCmhaQpGFNxJIZM6EX8iHsk0W4vpTtKGyambbespgDTRAUxHRCD90Gv759TgqVIt0Vv1v3UIVYOC9loFkOPA/s1600/Nigeria+flag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Nigeria flag" border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtYDjyxtdwKsyRyEdu5ugEeDNX4J-K5-nZrFgXj5Ii8vDzMtEW0lU4CD9MCmhaQpGFNxJIZM6EX8iHsk0W4vpTtKGyambbespgDTRAUxHRCD90Gv759TgqVIt0Vv1v3UIVYOC9loFkOPA/s400/Nigeria+flag.jpg" title="Nigeria flag" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">December 23, 2016: Edo State government executed three death row inmates who were sentenced to death by military tribunals under the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Decree 1971 as amended. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state had announced its intention to execute three death row prisoners at Oko Prisons in Benin City. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Nation learnt that the execution took place December 23 as scheduled. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Those executed are – Ogbomoro Omoregie, Apostle Igene and Mark Omosowhota. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They were said to have been executed around 6:00 a.m. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A rights group, the Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP), through its director Chino Obiagwu, had petitioned Governor Godwin Obaseki to halt the planned execution. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“We have filed an appeal pending at the Court of Lagos seeking order that these prisoners have right of appeal under the 1999 Constitution.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Obiagwu told The Nation on December 27 that his clients had been executed despite the petition. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It could not be confirmed if it was Obaseki or his predecessor Adams Oshiomhole who signed their death warrants. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: thenationonlineng.net, December 27, 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? Help us keep this blog up and running! <a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=JBVXEBZLP3WKW" target="_blank">DONATE!</a></b></div><form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_blank"><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/fr_FR/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" /></div></form><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div>

Nigeria: Edo State Executes Three Inmates

December 23, 2016: Edo State government executed three death row inmates who were sentenced to death by military tribunals under the Robbery...

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