SAVE HAMZA KASHGARI: Sign the petition! »
Showing posts with label death penalty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label death penalty. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
SAVE HAMZA KASHGARI: Sign the petition! »
Friday, February 03, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The head of the South African Medical Association has called for the return of the death penalty after one of the country's senior dermatologists was gunned down by carjackers in the capital Pretoria.
Dr Norman Mabasa told mourners at Dr John Moche's funeral that the country was "under siege".
"The number of people who die at the hands of criminals is higher than in countries embroiled in civil wars or natural disasters," he said.
"Crime has become so bad that soon we are going to have to put burglar bars around our beds."
Dr John Moche, a father to two young children and head of Steve Biko Academic Hospital's dermatology department in Pretoria, was one of just 166 qualified dermatologists in the country because of a skills shortage in specialist medicine.
He was dropping off a nurse at her home last Friday when he was shot through the heart by carjackers who sped off in his Range Rover. The car was later found abandoned in Atteridgeville, a township ten miles to the west. No arrests have been made yet. » | Aislinn Laing in Johannesburg | Friday, February 03, 2012
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
The European Commission has imposed tough new restrictions on the export of anaesthetics used to execute people in the US, in a move that will exacerbate the already extreme shortage of the drugs in many of the 34 states that still practice the death penalty.
The EC has added eight barbiturates to its list of restricted products that are tightly controlled on the grounds that they may be used for "capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment". The eight include pentobarbital and sodium thiopental – the two drugs on which almost all American executions currently depend.
The EC said its move, which follows restrictions introduced unilaterally by the UK in November 2010, was designed to forward the European Union's stated mission to abolish the death penalty around the world. "The decision today contributes to the wider EU efforts to abolish the death penalty worldwide," said the commission's vice president, Catherine Ashton. » | Ed Pilkington in New York | Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Opposition to capital punishment reaches record levels as numbers of executions and new death sentences continue to fall
Mounting opposition to the death penalty in America is starting to take effect, with the number of executions as well as newly imposed death sentences falling to record low levels in 2011.
As the year draws to a close, the annual review by the authoritative Death Penalty Information Centre points to an ongoing withering of the practice of judicial killings in the US [pdf]. The reduction in executions is matched by the rise in public disapproval of the sentence.
There were 43 executions this year, down from 46 last year and 85 in 2000. Some 78 prisoners were added to the population of death rows – the first time since the death penalty was reintroduced in 1976 that new sentences have dropped below the 100 mark. Last year 112 people were sentenced to death, and 224 in 2000.
"The multitude of problems associated with the death penalty is gradually convincing Americans that it can no longer be sustained," concludes Richard Dieter, the director of the information centre.
While the application of the death penalty fell, America's tolerance of it also declined. The highlight of the year was the execution of Troy Davis in Georgia in September that saw an outpouring of disgust and outrage at an intensity rarely seen within the country. » Ed Pilkington, New York | Thursday, December 15, 2011
Saturday, October 01, 2011
Lien en relation avec l’article »
Friday, September 30, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
"Blasphème". C'est le titre du livre qu'Asia Bibi, chrétienne pakistaniase [sic] condamnée à mort pour avoir bu l'eau d'un puits réservé aux musulmans, a co-écrit avec une journaliste depuis le fond de sa cellule. Dans ce témoignage, elle appelle à l'aide.
Pendant cinq mois, Anne-Isabelle Tollet, reporter à "France 24", a pu communiquer avec cette mère de cinq enfants, condamnée à la pendaison en novembre 2010 pour blasphème. Elle est la seule femme dans ce cas au Pakistan, selon les associations de défense des droits de l’Homme.
Depuis, elle attend dans sa cellule sans fenêtre de la prison de Sheikhupura son jugement en appel. » | AFP | Mardi 31 Mai 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Hosni Mubarak, the deposed president of Egypt, could face the death penalty if prosecutors prove he ordered the police to shoot unarmed demonstrators.More than 800 people died in the violence surrounding the popular protests against Mr Mubarak's regime earlier this year.
Habib al-Adly, the Interior Minister at the time, has already been arrested to face charges of ordering the security forces to attack the crowds.
Anger over the deaths of protesters when police opened fire on a crowd that stretched from Cairo's Tahrir Square to the state television building on January 28 has sustained demands for Mr Mubarak and his sons to face justice.
Zakaria Shalash, the head of Cairo's appeals court, told the state newspaper Al-Ahram that Mr Mubarak could be hung [sic] for his role in the crackdown.
He said: "If proven, he will receive the same punishment as the person who carried it out and it could reach execution if it is proven that peaceful demonstrators were killed with premeditation." » | Damien McElroy, Cairo | Friday, April 15, 2011
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
BBC: Illinois has become the 16th US state to abolish the death penalty, after the governor signed a bill making permanent a 10-year-old moratorium on executions.
Governor Pat Quinn signed the bill after spending two months consulting with victims' families, prosecutors, religious leaders and others.
Former Governor George Ryan ordered a moratorium in 2000 amid concerns innocent people could be executed.
Thirty-four states still have the death penalty. >>> | Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
AL JAZEERA ENGLISH: Lawyers for WikiLeaks' founder say he could face death penalty or torture if he is extradited to the US via Sweden.
Defence attorneys for Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has said he could end up facing the death penalty in the US if the UK extradites him to Sweden, where he is accused of sex crimes.
The lawyers fear that Sweden will in turn hand him over to the US.
Following Assange's appearance in a London court on Tuesday, his attorneys published an outline of the defence he will use at a full extradition hearing scheduled for February 7.
"There is a real risk that, if extradited to Sweden, the US will seek his extradition and/or illegal rendition to the USA, where there will be a real risk of him being detained at Guantanamo Bay or elsewhere" according to a legal memo on the website of the law firm Finers Stephens Innocent.
"Indeed, if Mr Assange were rendered to the USA, without assurances that the death penalty would not be carried out, there is a real risk that he could be made subject to the death penalty."
The Australian citizen, who has angered the US and other states by releasing embarrassing classified US diplomatic cables, is wanted by Sweden for questioning over alleged sexual offences against two women in Sweden last summer.
According to his lawyer, the allegations stem from a dispute over "consensual but unprotected sex". >>> | Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Read on >>>
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: WikiLeaks: guilty parties 'should face death penalty' – Leading US political figures have called for the death penalty to be imposed on the person who leaked sensitive documents to whistle-blower website WikiLeaks as anger intensified against those responsible for the international relations crisis. >>> Nick Collins | Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Iran's judiciary chief has halted "for the moment" the execution by stoning of a woman accused of adultery, according to the state news agency.
Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two, was sentenced to death by stoning after being found guilty of adultery by an Iranian court, a ruling that sparked outcry in Western countries. >>> | Sunday, July 11, 2010
Related articles here
Thursday, May 20, 2010
BBC: In Uganda, plans to introduce draconian new laws against homosexuality look likely to go ahead despite mass protests, a major petition, and condemnation from the international community.
The bill, which proposes the death penalty for so-called 'serial offenders', has already been described as 'odious' by President Obama.
A senior minister in Kampala has suggested that the death penalty could be replaced with life imprisonment.
John Simpson reports from Kampala. Watch BBC video here | John Simpson | Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: The lone surviving gunman involved in the Mumbai attacks in which 166 people died is facing the death penalty after being convicted mass murder and waging war on India.
Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, 22, was jointly responsible for the assault on the railway station where 52 people were gunned down.
He was convicted on 86 charges of waging war against India, possessing explosives and aiding and abetting the murders of all 166 victims.
Kasab and his fellow militants from the Lashkar e Taiba (LeT) terrorist group struck at three hotels, a bar, a Jewish centre and the city's main station in an attack lasting 60 hours.
His victims included the head of Mumbai's antiterrorist police in a shoot-out as he left the railway station. Their murders wiped out the city's antiterrorist command and sabotaged its response.
India's Home Minister, P Chidambaram, welcomed the verdict and said it sent a clear message to Pakistan that "they should not export terror to India. If they do, and if the terrorists are apprehended, we will be able to give them exemplary punishment," he said. >>> Dean Nelson in New Delhi | Monday, May 03, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: David Bahati wants to execute consenting same-sex couples, arguing it is a crime they choose to commit
The British government will ban a Ugandan MP from travelling to the UK if he is successful in passing a law that would impose the death penalty in Uganda for being gay.
Civil servants in the Foreign Office, the Department for International Development and the Borders Agency are drawing up plans to block the visa of born-again Christian MP David Bahati if he does not drop legislation that would see consenting adults who have gay sex imprisoned for life and impose the death penalty on those with HIV – which will be called "aggravated homosexuality".
The bill also proposes the death penalty for those having gay sex with anyone under the age of 18, with someone disabled or what the legislation describes as "serial offenders".
It also calls for life prison sentences for those "promoting homosexuality", which could come to mean human rights groups or those who fail to inform on a gay couple.
One senior British government source said the issue could turn into a "major diplomatic incident if the Ugandans do not back down". President Barack Obama has already described the legislation as odious.
The British government's views have been conveyed to Uganda but officials have not received a clear sense of whether the legislature will pass the bill into law. >>> Allegra Stratton, political correspondent | Monday, April 19, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
RUSSIA TODAY: Russia’s moratorium on the death penalty expires early next year. While some want capital punishment outlawed completely, many still believe there are criminals who deserve it.
The arguments for and against the death penalty are well established. Most legal and criminal analysts insist capital punishment does little towards the problem of crime – what matters is the unavoidability of it.
Even though public support for the death penalty has fallen in Russia in recent years, several violent incidents in the past ten years keeps the issue very much in the limelight, making implementing a total ban a highly contentious issue. >>> | Published: Monday, October 05, 2009; Edited: Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Saturday, February 20, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: There was a time in Kampala when gay men would meet for furtive one-night stands, even if they were prevented from forming lasting relationships in a country where homophobia is rife.
“You would just have sex, then disappear. We were secretive out of fear,” said Peter, 39. At one point, things had begun changing for the better. “You could know where a guy lived and hung out; you could start to form relationships, something more permanent,” he said. “Then along comes this Bill that wants to kill us.”
Homosexuality has always been illegal in Uganda, but draft legislation introduced by a born-again Christian parliamentarian proposing the death penalty for gay sex, under certain conditions, has upped the ante. Peter is again living in fear.
Anti-gay sentiment is on the rise in many parts of Africa. In a bellwether case, a gay couple face trial for “unnatural practices” in Malawi; in Kenya, police arrested guests at what is claimed to have been a gay wedding last week — supposedly to protect them from an angry mob. “They are proposing a witch-hunt,” said Peter. “That Bill could put me to death, or in prison, in many ways. They want to legislate us out of existence.”
The draft law proposes the death penalty for having gay sex with anyone under 18, if infected with HIV/Aids, or with someone who is disabled — or for being what the Bill terms “a serial offender”. Gay sex between consenting adults would lead to a life sentence.
It also calls for prison sentences for those “promoting homosexuality” — which could be interpreted to mean any human rights groups — and for anyone failing to report a homosexual act to the authorities. >>> Tristan McConnell in Kampala | Saturday, February 20, 2010
Saturday, February 06, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A multi-millionaire British citizen is facing a potential death sentence in Indonesia on charges of corruption and fraud relating to the controversial collapse of one of the country's leading banks.
Rafat Ali Rizvi, 49, who grew up and went to university in the UK, has been accused of stealing assets from Bank Century after it was rescued from collapse by the state in November 2008 with $670m (£430m) of taxpayers' money.
Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for Mr Rizvi at Indonesia's request but he remains at large, splitting his time between the UK, where he has a property on London's Park Lane, and Singapore. Neither country has an extradition agreement with Indonesia.
Mr Rivzi, believed to be worth around $600m, protests his innocence but friends say he fears standing trial in Indonesia because the Bank Century case has become highly political. Investigations have been launched into the original bail-out as well as alleged corruption surrounding the case.
According to Mr Rivzi's lawyers, he believes he will be made a scapegoat for the bank's failure. >>> Philip Aldrick | Saturday, February 06, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
BBC: Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has distanced himself from a bill proposing execution for some gay people.
He stressed that the MP who proposed the bill, who is a member of the ruling party, did so as an individual and was not following government policy.
Mr Museveni, who admitted coming under international pressure, said the bill was now a "foreign policy issue" and would be discussed by the cabinet.
The proposals have caused a storm of criticism across the world.
Sweden has threatened to cut aid and other countries have contacted Mr Museveni directly to put their objections. >>> | Wednesday, January 13, 2010
BBC: Uganda fear over gay death-penalty plans >>> | Tuesday, December 22, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)