Homosexual Africans Face Prison, Intolerance and the Death Penalty
THE TELEGRAPH: In Africa 38 out of 53 countries have criminalised consensual homosexual sex.

Matuba Mahlatjie is gay, African and married, which is unheard of outside liberal South Africa, because the continent's governments are clamping down on homosexuality.

Gay pride parades, same-sex marriages and the famously gay-friendly city of Cape Town puts South Africa way ahead of countries such as nearby Malawi, where a gay couple was thrown in jail this month for trying to marry.

But scratch the surface and sexual intolerance and hate crimes still riddle the continent's powerhouse.

"We still have hate crimes perpetrated against gay and lesbian people in our communities. The legalisation of same-sex unions did not make our life any easier," said Mahlatjie, who feels gays are still "under siege" in the country.

Across Africa governments are laying down the law against homosexuality and 38 out of 53 countries have criminalised consensual gay sex, in what Human Rights Watch says is a method of "political manipulation".

Uganda has been criticised for the tabling of a bill against the "sinful lifestyle" that would toughen penalties for gays and also punish anyone who "promotes" homosexuality.

In Malawi, where discussing sex is taboo, the attempt by the gay couple to get married was labeled a matter of "gross indecency". A judge is expected to decide next week whether they will face trial. >>> Fran Blandy, in Cape Town for AFP | Monday, January 11, 2010

New Dark Age Alert! Uganda’s Inhumane Bill
TIMES ONLINE – LEADING ARTICLE: Museveni appeals to anti-gay prejudice to mask growing political repression

To ask the public to voice their views on a question as crudely inflammatory as “Should homosexuals face execution?” is to invite bigotry to put on its boots. The BBC’s facile attempt to stimulate debate on its website has provoked justified outrage that old prejudices should be given a fresh hearing. Yet this same crude question is to be put to the Ugandan Parliament today. And there is a real fear that not only may MPs enthusiastically support the death penalty for active HIV-positive homosexuals; Uganda may soon pass legislation that would legitimise the hounding of gay people throughout Africa.

The proposed legislation is ostensibly meant to curb the spread of Aids, reinforce family values and reflect the widespread disgust many Africans express for what they regard as Western sexual decadence. It proposes a mandatory death sentence for active homosexuals living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape. Anyone convicted of a homosexual act faces life imprisonment. And the friends and families of gay Ugandans could face up to seven years in jail if they fail to report them to the authorities. Even landlords could be imprisoned for renting to homosexuals. The Bill is an open invitation to a witch-hunt.

The measure has prompted widespread revulsion in much of the world. Gordon Brown and his Canadian counterpart expressed their concern to President Museveni at the Commonwealth summit conference last month. The United Nations and the World Health Organisation have said that Uganda may lose the chance to host an important permanent Aids research organisation if it passes the Bill. And anti-Aids activists have pointed out that the Bill would have only marginal effect on the fight against the disease, as homosexuals were responsible for less than one per cent of new infections last year. >>> Friday, December 18, 2009

Japan’s Death Penalty Effectively Scrapped with Arrival of Keiko Chiba
TIMES ONLINE: Capital punishment has been unofficially scrapped in Japan with the appointment of a left-wing justice minister who is an outspoken opponent of the country’s controversial system of secret executions.

Keiko Chiba, 61, a lawyer and former member of the Japan Socialist Party, has the final say in signing execution orders for the country’s 102 death-row inmates. Although she has declined to say explicitly whether or not she will authorise them, her 20-year record as an active death penalty abolitionist means that hangings will be put on hold after surging in the past three years.

“A moratorium is important, but also important is a public debate, and she has called for that too,” said Makoto Teranaka, executive director of Amnesty International Japan.

Japan is the only industrialised democracy, apart from the United States, to maintain capital punishment. Campaigners opposed to the death penalty also say that it is carried out in a manner designed to avoid public scrutiny.

Once final appeals have been exhausted, death-row inmates can meet only their lawyers and immediate family members. Hangings are usually carried out during parliamentary holidays to prevent the subject from being raised in parliament. The condemned prisoner is told of his imminent execution only a few hours before it is carried out. His family are informed afterwards, when they are invited to collect his remains. >>> Richard Lloyd Parry | Saturday, September 19, 2009

California Arsonist May Face Death Penalty for Los Angeles Widlfire [sic], Prosecutors Say
THE TELEGRAPH: The suspected arsonist who started the Station wildfire that swept through the hills above Los Angeles last week could face the death penalty, prosecutors say.

Two firefighters died when their vehicle crashed off the road as they worked with a group of inmates battling the blaze during some of the most intense hours of the operation.

Sheriff Lee Baca has said police have launched a murder investigation following the deaths during the biggest fire in the history of Los Angeles County.

A law enforcement source told The Los Angeles Times on Saturday that "material that didn't belong there" has been found at the site suspected to be where the fire started, a twice-scorched slope near Mile Marker 29 along Angeles Crest Highway.

The suspicious substance was reportedly found in the brush off the highway and has been sent for laboratory testing.

The fire, which was 42 per cent contained by Saturday morning, has destroyed more than 154,000 acres and 76 homes. It has cost more than $37 million to fight but the much greater damage to property, wildlife is still being assessed.

There is a recent precedent for an arsonist receiving the death penalty.

In June, Raymond Lee Oyler, a mechanic, was sentenced to die for setting the 2006 Esperanza blaze that claimed the lives of five firefighters.

Even if the fire was accidental, the newspaper reported that the starter could face jail time if charged and convicted of involuntary manslaughter or negligent homicide resulting from a tossed cigarette, fuel spill or other careless act that caused the fire. >>> Philip Sherwell in San Francisco and agencies | Saturday, September 05, 2009

Richard Dawkins: Apostasy in Islam Carries the Death Penalty

Gay Muslim Discusses His Sexuality and Islam

Iran Mulls Death Penalty for Offensive Blogs (March 24, 2009)

Iran Takes Step Towards Scrapping Death Penalty for Apostasy and Stoning [sic]
THE CHRISTIAN POST: In a “positive development” Iran’s parliamentary committee has recommended to remove articles stipulating the death penalty for apostasy from the Islamic Penal Code Bill.
The recommendation has been made by the Iranian Government’s Parliamentary Committee, a UK-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reported.

Ali Shahrokhi of the Legal and Judicial Committee of the Parliament reportedly told the Iranian state news agency (IRNA) of this pronouncement according to a BBC Persian news service report on 23 June.

Mr Shahrokhi also stated that stoning was not ‘in the interest of the regime’. He told IRNA that “Islam has set a strict set of conditions for the implementation of punishments such as stoning, that they can rarely be proven. Hence the legal and judicial commission members concluded that some of these laws are unnecessary to mention.” >>> Robert Williams, Christian Post Correspondent | Saturday, June 27, 2009

Iran: Three Converts Ordered to Stop ‘Christian Activities’
COMPASS DIRECT NEWS: Judge puts them on probation, threatening them with ‘apostasy’ trial.

LOS ANGELES – Declaring three Iranian Christians guilty of cooperating with “anti-government movements,” a court in Shiraz on March 10 ordered the converts to discontinue Christian activities and stop propagating their faith. An Islamic Revolutionary Court judge handed an eight-month suspended prison sentence with a five-year probation to Seyed Allaedin Hussein, Homayoon Shokouhi, and Seyed Amir Hussein Bob-Annari. The judge said he would enforce their prison sentence and try them as “apostates,” or those who leave Islam, if they violate terms of their probation – including a ban on contacting one another. A new penal code under consideration by the Iranian Parliament includes a bill that would require the death penalty for apostasy. “The warning that they will be ‘arrested and tried as apostates’ if they continue their Christian activities is quite chilling,” said a regional analyst who requested anonymity. [Source: CompassDirectNews] Copyright © 2009 Compass Direct News | Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Iran Mulls Death Penalty for Offensive Blogs

The Religion of Love and Peace? 'Israel Spy' Put to Death in Iran
Photo of Ali Ashtari courtesy of the BBC
BBC: Iran has hanged a telecoms engineer convicted of spying for Israel, reports from Tehran say.

Ali Ashtari, an Iranian, was convicted in June of spying for Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency. A video said to be of his confession was broadcast on TV.

He was convicted of sending "sensitive information on military, defence and research centres" for three years.

Israeli officials were quoted in June as saying that Israel was not familiar with the case.

Announcing the execution, which reportedly took place on Monday, Iran's official news agency said the case against the 45-year-old was clear and his appeal was summarily dismissed.

"He had spied for Mossad for three years," the state news agency quoted the intelligence ministry's director of counter-terrorism as saying. >>> | Novemebr 22, 2008

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US Commission: Yemen May Execute Christian Prisoners; Baha'is Face Deportation
BOS NEWS LIFE: WASHINGTON, USA -- The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom fears Christian prisoners in Yemen, who have been jailed "for months without charge" will be executed while Baha'i detainees may be deported to Iran to face “imprisonment” and "torture."

"The Christians, who are converts from Islam, could face the death penalty if charged with apostasy," the Commission said in a statement monitored by BosNewsLife Tuesday, October 21. "Some of the Baha'i prisoners could be deported to Iran, where the Iranian government has imprisoned and tortured Baha'is in recent years."

The Commission quoted sources familiar with the cases as saying that the Baha'is and Christians "were detained for sharing" their faith. "Since May, at least nine Yemeni Christians, who are converts from Islam, have been arrested in [the areas of] Sana'a and Hodeida and remain in prison. According to the State Department, some of the Christians were arrested for "promoting Christianity and distributing the Bible," although no formal charges have been filed by Yemeni authorities," the Commission said.

The Yemeni government prohibits conversion from Islam and the proselytizing of Muslims. "Given that apostasy is a crime punishable by death in Yemen, there is credible fear about the well-being of those imprisoned," the Commission added. >>> | October 21, 2008

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Hanged for Being a Christian in Iran
Photo of Rashin Soodmand courtesy of The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: Eighteen years ago, Rashin Soodmand's father was hanged in Iran for converting to Christianity. Now her brother is in a Mashad jail, and expects to be executed under new religious laws brought in this summer. Alasdair Palmer reports.

A month ago, the Iranian parliament voted in favour of a draft bill, entitled "Islamic Penal Code", which would codify the death penalty for any male Iranian who leaves his Islamic faith. Women would get life imprisonment. The majority in favour of the new law was overwhelming: 196 votes for, with just seven against.

Imposing the death penalty for changing religion blatantly violates one of the most fundamental of all human rights. The right to freedom of religion is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and in the European Convention of Human Rights. It is even enshrined as Article 23 of Iran's own constitution, which states that no one may be molested simply for his beliefs.

And yet few politicians or clerics in Iran see any contradiction between a law mandating the death penalty for changing religion and Iran's constitution. There has been no public protest in Iran against it.

David Miliband, Britain's Foreign Secretary, stands out as one of the few politicians from any Western country who has put on record his opposition to making apostasy a crime punishable by death. The protest from the EU has been distinctly muted; meanwhile, Germany, Iran's largest foreign trading partner, has just increased its business deals with Iran by more than half. Characteristically, the United Nations has said nothing.

It is a sign of how little interest there is in Iran's intention to launch a campaign of religious persecution that its parliamentary vote has still not been reported in the mainstream media.

For one woman living in London, however, the Iranian parliamentary vote cannot be brushed aside. Rashin Soodmand is a 29-year-old Iranian Christian. Her father, Hossein Soodmand, was the last man to be executed in Iran for apostasy, the "crime" of abandoning one's religion. He had converted from Islam to Christianity in 1960, when he was 13 years old. Thirty years later, he was hanged by the Iranian authorities for that decision.

Today, Rashin's brother, Ramtin, is also held in a prison cell in Mashad, Iran's holiest city. He was arrested on August 21. He has not been charged but he is a Christian. And Rashin fears that, just as her father was the last man to be executed for apostasy in Iran, her brother may become one of the first to be killed under Iran's new law. Hanged for Being a Chrsitian in Iran >>> Alasdair Palmer | October 11, 2008

RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE: Praise for British Foreign Secretary’s Condemnation of Iran Apostasy Bill

The British Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, Rt Hon David Miliband, MP, has condemned a draft bill currently making its way through the Iranian Parliament, which would codify the death penalty for apostasy. His views have been welcomed by the CSW human rights group.

David Miliband commented yesterday that he “deplore[d] the way in which the Iranian Parliament is… now discussing a draft penal code that would set out a mandatory death sentence for the crime, quote unquote, of apostasy.” He went on to say that “If adopted, [the legislation] would violate the right to freedom of religion, which is also an important basis of any civilised society.” >>> Staff Reporter | October 9, 2008

ASSOCIATED PRESS: EU Worried about Freedom of Religion in Iran

PARIS — The European Union said Friday it is "very worried" about what it sees as a deterioration of religious freedom in Iran.

A statement from the French Foreign Ministry on behalf of the EU says pressure has increased on religious minorities in the Islamic Republic in recent months, with arrests in the Christian and Baha'i communities. France currently holds the EU presidency.

The statement Friday also said that religious minorities, including Sufi and Sunni Muslims, undergo "regular persecution" such as the confiscation of their property, profanation of their prayer spaces and violence.

The EU says it also is concerned about the possibility the Iranian parliament could pass a bill to make apostasy a crime punishable by death.>>> AP | September 26, 2008

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Pervez Kambaksh Still Faces Death in Afghanistan on Charges of ‘Blasphemy’, and Has Difficulty Finding a Lawyer to Represent Him
Photo of Perves Kambaksh courtesy of The Independent
THE INDEPENDENT: Pervez Kambaksh, the Afghan student sentenced to death after being accused of downloading internet reports on women's rights, yesterday pleaded innocent to charges of blasphemy. He told an appeal court in Kabul that he had been tortured into confessing.

Mr Kambaksh, 24, vehemently denied that he had been responsible for producing anti-Islamic literature. He insisted the prosecution had been motivated by personal malice of two members of staff and their student supporters at the university in Balkh, where he was studying journalism.

He was convicted in proceedings behind closed doors in a trial which he said had lasted just four minutes and where he had been denied legal representation.

Yesterday, in the first public hearing of the case, the prosecution claimed that Mr Kambaksh had disrupted classes at the university by asking questions about women's rights under Islam. It also said he distributed an article on the subject after writing an additional three paragraphs including the phrase "This is the real face of Islam ... The prophet Mohamad wrote verses of the holy Koran just for his own benefit."

In a highly emotional statement, Mr Kambaksh said: "I'm Muslim and I would never let myself write such an article. These accusations are nonsense, [they] come from two professors and other students because of private hostilities against me. I was tortured by the intelligence service in Balkh province and they made me confess that I wrote three paragraphs in this article."

Mr Kambaksh represented himself because his family are having difficulties finding a lawyer to represent him after threats by fundamentalist groups that anyone taking on the job would be killed. I Was Tortured to Confess, Pervez Tells Appeal Court >>> By Kim Sengupta | May 19, 2008

Galloway audio on Afghanistan: ‘Afghanistan to Execute Student for Blasphemy’ >>>

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO SAVE PERVEZ KAMBAKSH HERE

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Now Iranian Lesbian Who Fled to Britain Faces Deportation
THE INDEPENDENT: An Iranian lesbian who fled to Britain after her girlfriend was arrested and sentenced to death faces being forcibly returned after losing the latest round in her battle to be granted asylum.

The case of Pegah Emambakhsh, 40, comes a day after The Independent reported on the growing public outcry over the plight of a gay Iranian teenager who fears he will be executed if he is deported to Iran.

Both cases have provoked international protests against Britain and led to calls for an immediate moratorium on the deportation of gay and lesbian asylum-seekers who fear they will be persecuted in Iran.

More than 60 MEPs have signed a petition asking Gordon Brown to reverse the decision on Mehdi Kazemi, 19, who escaped to the Netherlands after the Home Office refused him asylum last year. His case is still before Dutch judges who will decide this month whether he should return to Britain where he faces deportation to a country which has already executed his boyfriend.

Gay rights group claim there are dozens more cases of gay and lesbian asylum-seekers living in Britain in fear of persecution and facing harsh punishments if forced to return to Iran.

Ms Emambakhsh came to the UK in 2005 fearing for her life after her partner had been arrested by Tehran police. Iranian gay rights groups have reported that that partner is in custody under sentence of death by stoning. Speaking through her asylum representative in Sheffield yesterday, Ms Emambakhsh said: "I will never, never go back. If I do I know I will die."

Under the Iranian Islamic Punishment Act, lesbians found guilty of sexual relations can be sentenced to 100 lashes. But, for a third offence, the punishment is execution. Now Iranian lesbian who fled to Britain faces deportation >>> By Robert Verkaik, Law Editor

THE INDEPENDENT:
Simon Hughes: No gay person should be sent back to Iran

THE INDEPENDENT:
Leading article: Squalid priorities

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Iran Introduces Law that Imposes Death Penalty on Converts
RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE: LEGISLATION has been brought by the government of President Mahmoud Amadinejad before the Iranian Majlis that would mandate the death penalty for apostates from Islam. The law’s reach would be worldwide, the legislation says.

The Washington think tank, the Institute on Religion and Public Policy reported on Feb 5 the proposed “Bill for Islamic Penal” law will be the first time that Iran has by statute mandated the death penalty for conversion from Islam.


The legislation used the word “Hadd -- meaning that it explicitly sets death as a fixed punishment that cannot be changed, reduced or annulled. In the past, the death penalty has been handed down, and also carried out, in apostasy cases, but it has never before been set down in law,” the Institute’s president, Joseph Grieboski said. Iran introduces law that imposes death penalty on converts >>> By George Conger

Hat tip: Jim Ball

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

UN General Assembly to Call for Moratorium on Death Penalty
BBC: A resolution calling for a worldwide suspension of the use of the death penalty has been introduced at the United Nations General Assembly.

Eighty-one of the 192 UN members are backing the resolution, which is expected to be voted on next week.

This resolution calls for countries which still have the death penalty to introduce a moratorium or a suspension, with a view to abolishing the practice.

Opponents of the moratorium are led by Singapore.

One-hundred-and-thirty countries have already banned the death penalty, and only 25 nations carried out executions last year. UN to vote on death penalty halt (more) By Laura Trevelyan

BBC:
Italy urges global execution ban By David Willey

Mark Alexander

Scandalous Treatment of American Academics by Tehran; Death Penalty Looms Yet Again in the Land of the ‘Religion of Love and Peace’
BBC: Iranian TV has shown the first pictures of two Iranian American academics - Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbakhsh - who have been held in Iran since May.

The footage was a trailer promoting a programme to be aired later this week.

Only snatches of their voices are heard but the BBC's Tehran correspondent says they appear to be confessing to trying to topple the Iranian government.

Ms Esfandiari, Mr Tajbakhsh and another detained Iranian American, journalist Parnaz Azima, are accused of spying.

They could face the death penalty if found guilty. Iran TV shows detained Americans (more)

Mark Alexander

Lifers Start Requesting Death
THE GUARDIAN: For the growing prison population of lifers trapped in a black hole of hopelessness, even death might seem a better alternative, says Erwin James.

In 1979 the average time a "lifer" spent in prison in the UK was nine years. Now it's around 15 or 16, although minimum terms of 30 years plus are regularly handed down by the courts to those who commit the most serious offences.

As a consequence, "doing life" in a British prison has never been more arduous. Nobody outside is complaining, however, although the lord chief justice, Lord Phillips, did comment a while ago that the increasingly long fixed terms given to those whose crimes merit a life sentence means that we are in danger of creating a whole generation of "geriatric lifers".

Most victims of life-sentenced prisoners would be hard pressed to be concerned, I guess. The idea that people who cause suffering to others deserve all they get is a perfectly reasonable one, and there is a still a significant number of the law-abiding majority who believe that life should mean life. Journey to nowhere (more)

Mark Alexander