The Bloodlust Faced by the 'Blaspheming' Saudi Journalist
GUARDIAN – BLOGS – ANDREW BROWN: Hamza Kashgari's tweets about Muhammad have led to a chilling online reaction from many in Saudi Arabia

In this country, and in the US, the judicial authorities make fools of themselves about Twitter. In Saudi and Malaysia, they may make themselves murderers. The case of Hamza Kashgari, a young Saudi journalist who has just been deported from Malaysia to face trial on charges of blasphemy, is one that should frighten and disgust anyone who cares about freedom of speech or religion.

His supposed offence was to have tweeted part of an imaginary conversation with the prophet Muhammad. "I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don't understand about you," he wrote; and: "I will not pray for you."

After six hours, he apologised for this, and then fled to Malaysia, en route to New Zealand, where he would have been safe. But after three days in Malaysia, he was arrested and shipped back to Saudi, where he faces the death penalty.

It is likely that he will not be executed, if he makes a sufficiently grovelling apology, though he will certainly be punished cruelly for something that is not a crime in any civilised society. This doesn't do much to excuse either the Saudis or the Malaysian authorities, who were under no compulsion to arrest him, and even less to deport him before his lawyers could lodge an appeal, despite the protests of both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Continue reading and comment » | Andrew Brown | Wednesday, February 15, 2012

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US Marine to Be Executed in Iran
The clock is ticking for the former US Marine facing the death penalty in Iran over charges of espionage. Amir Hekmati was sentenced to death on Monday, and given 20 days to appeal. Al Jazeera's John Hendren reports from Hekmati's home town of Flint, Michigan, where fears for the soldier's life are running high.

Iran Confirms Death Sentence for 'Porn Site' Web Programmer
THE GUARDIAN: Saeed Malekpour faces imminent execution on basis of confessions he retracted in letter, saying they had been beaten out of him

Iran's supreme court has upheld the death sentence for a web programmer who faces imminent execution after being found guilty of developing and promoting porn websites.

Saeed Malekpour was picked up by plainclothes officers in October 2008 and taken to Evin prison in Tehran, where he spent a year in solitary confinement without access to lawyers and without charge.

A year after his arrest, the 35-year-old appeared in a state television programme confessing to a series of crimes in connection with a porn website. On the basis of his TV confessions, he was convicted of designing and moderating adult materials online by a court in Tehran, which handed down [the] death penalty.

Malekpour later retracted his confessions in a letter sent from prison, in which he said they had been made under duress.

According to Malekpour's family, he is a permanent resident of Canada and is a programmer who wrote photo-uploading software that was used by a porn website without his knowledge.

His sister, Maryam Malekpour, said the supreme court had confirmed the death sentence despite many discrepancies in the case. "Saeed's lawyers were told that his death sentence will be issued this week," she said in an interview with the Iranian website Roozonline.

After an international campaign and new expert evidence, the supreme court suspended Malekpour's death sentence in June 2011 and ordered a judicial review.

Speaking to the Guardian, Maryam Nayeb Yazdi, a human rights activist based in Toronto who has followed Malekpour's case closely, said: "Saeed is in imminent danger of execution. He has never been provided with a fair trial at any point during this horrific and twisted ordeal. » | Saeed Kamali Dehghan | Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Iran Sentences American to Death for Spying
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: An American ex-Marine, who also holds Iranian citizenship, has been sentenced to death by an Iran judge for spying for the CIA, the Fars news agency reported on Monday.

Amir Mirzai Hekmati, 28, was "sentenced to death for co-operating with a hostile nation, membership of the CIA and trying to implicate Iran in terrorism," the verdict said, according to Fars.

Hekmati, who was born in the United States to an Iranian immigrant family, was shown on Iranian state television in mid-December saying in fluent Farsi and English that he was a Central Intelligence Agency operative sent to infiltrate the Iranian intelligence ministry.

He had been arrested months earlier. » | Monday, January 09, 2012

THE GUARDIAN: Iranian court sentences 'CIA agent' to death: • Father of Amir Hekmati says he was just visiting family • Iranian media says country has started enriching uranium ¶ Iran has sentenced an American citizen to death and reports have emerged that the country has started enriching uranium underground in a show of defiance of western sanctions. ¶ The man, Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, an Iranian-American born in Arizona in 1983, was shown on Iranian television in December confessing to being a CIA agent, sent to gain the trust of the Iranian government by pretending to offer US state secrets. Hekmati's father said he had gone to Iran to visit his grandmother. » | Julian Borger, diplomatic editor | Monday, January 09, 2012

Georgia Puts Convict to Death Despite Protest
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Supporters of Troy Davis maintain his innocence in off-duty officer's '89 killing.

Reporting from Jackson, Ga.— Despite his claims of innocence and a roster of high-powered supporters, Troy Davis was executed late Wednesday night for the 1989 murder of an off-duty Savannah, Ga., police officer.

Strapped to a gurney in the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison about four hours after his scheduled 7 p.m. execution, Davis, 42, lifted his head and used some of his last words to deny his guilt to the family of the victim, Mark MacPhail.

The incident that night 22 years ago was not his fault, he said, according to media witnesses. He said he did not even have a gun.

"I personally did not kill your son, father and brother," he said. "I am innocent."

He was pronounced dead at 11:08 p.m., and a coroner's van hauled away his body. » | Richard Fausset, Los Angeles Times | Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Iran Executes Three Men on Homosexuality Charges
THE GUARDIAN: Convicts were sentenced to death 'for acts against the Sharia law and bad deeds'

Three Iranian men have been executed after being found guilty of charges related to homosexuality, according to a semi-official news agency.

The men, only identified by their initials, were hanged on Sunday in the south-western city of Ahvaz, the capital of Iran's Khuzestan province.

"The three convicts were sentenced to death based on the articles 108 and 110 of Iran's Islamic penal code, for acts against the sharia law and bad deeds," the Isna agency quoted a judiciary official in Khuzestan as saying.

Iran Human Rights, an independent NGO based in Norway, said the men were charged with "lavat" – sexual intercourse between two men. It is not clear whether the three men were homosexuals or merely smeared with homosexuality accused of being gay. » | Saeed Kamali Dehghan | Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Le blasphème qui tue

CYBERPRESSE.CA: (Pakistan) Au Pakistan, personne ne peut offenser le Prophète sans risquer la prison. Cette loi sur le blasphème divise le pays depuis qu'Asia Bibi, illettrée, a été condamnée à mort parce qu'elle a insulté le Prophète. D'un côté, des militants extrémistes prêts à tout pour qu'elle soit pendue, de l'autre, des politiciens assassinés parce qu'ils ont osé la défendre. Au milieu, un gouvernement paralysé qui ne sait plus comment désamorcer la crise. La Presse a enquêté sur le terrain. Histoire d'une bombe à retardement.

Asia Bibi avait 38 ans lorsque sa vie est devenue un cauchemar.

Le 14 juin 2009, elle travaillait dans le champ avec trois femmes. Asia est chrétienne, les femmes, musulmanes.

Elles se chicanaient parfois, mais elles finissaient toujours par se réconcilier. Elles vivaient à Ittanwalli, village pauvre perdu au milieu des champs. La route de terre est craquelée par le soleil, des ânes tirent des charrettes et des chiens dorment au milieu du chemin, tourmentés par les mouches. À Ittanwalli, le temps est suspendu.

En juin, le thermomètre frôle les 50 degrés. Asia travaillait, écrasée par la chaleur. Les femmes avaient soif, elles ont bu de l'eau. Asia a touché leur verre et bu à son tour. C'est à ce moment précis que tout a basculé. Ce geste inoffensif -une chrétienne qui touche l'eau d'une musulmane- a plongé le Pakistan dans une grave crise politico-religieuse.

Les musulmanes ont accusé Asia Bibi d'avoir souillé leur eau. Les femmes se sont chicanées, le ton a monté, Asia s'est énervée et elle a insulté l'islam et le prophète Mahomet. » | Michèle Ouimet, envoyée spéciale, La Presse | Lundi 30 Mai 2011

Bahrain Special Court Upholds 2 Death Sentences in Protest-related Case
ARAB NEWS: DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: A special appeals court in Bahrain upheld death sentences Sunday for two people convicted of killing policemen during anti-government demonstrations in March.

A report by the Bahrain News Agency said the court upheld death sentences against Ali Abdullah Hassan Al-Singace and Abdul Aziz Abdul Redha Ibrahim Hussein, who were accused of killing the policemen intentionally by running them over with a car.

BNA identified two other accused whose death sentences were reduced as Qasim Hassan Mattar Ahmed and Saeed Abdul Jalil Saeed.

Bahraini state media last month aired government-produced videos that including clips of purported confessions of the policemen’s killings. They also included testimonials from alleged relatives of one of the slain policemen and a taxi driver killed in the unrest.

The case was the first related to this year’s unrest, which was inspired by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.

Capital punishment is extremely rare in Bahrain and is typically not applied to the country’s citizens. A Bangladeshi man was executed last July after being convicted of premeditated murder. » | Adam Schreck | AP | Sunday, May 22, 2011

Afghanistan: Convert from Islam to Christianity Faces Capital Trial for Apostasy
JIHAD WATCH: Said Musa faces death for apostasy from a government the U.S. installed and in accordance with a Constitution that the U.S. endorsed. An update on this story. "Afghan Christian faces trial for alleged conversion from Islam," by Matiullah Mati for CNN, November 21 (thanks to Mackie):

An Afghan Christian, detained for months for allegedly converting to Christianity from Islam, could face trial as early as next week - and could face a potential death penalty, officials said Sunday. [...]

The Afghan Constitution does not mention converting from one religion to another, so the judge will take Islamic law into account, officials said.

"According to Afghanistan's constitution, if there is no clear verdict as to whether an act is criminal or not in the penal code of the Afghan Constitution, then it would be referred to sharia law where the judge has an open hand in reaching a verdict," Shenwari said.

Under sharia law, converting from Islam to Christianity is punishable by death....

Nice of CNN to admit it, after obfuscating it before. Read on and comment >>> Robert Spencer | Sunday, November 21, 2010

Irak : le président Talabani refuse l'exécution de Tarek Aziz
Tarek Aziz, ancien vice-premier ministre de Saddam Hussein. Photo : Le Monde
LE MONDE: Le président irakien, Jalal Talabani, a annoncé dans un entretien diffusé mercredi qu'il ne signera pas l'acte de condamnation à mort de Tarek Aziz, ancien vice-premier ministre de Saddam Hussein. Depuis sa condamnation à mort, la communauté internationale presse Bagdad de ne pas appliquer la peine capitale contre la personnalité "fréquentable", "visage humain" du régime du "raïs" irakien.

"Non, je ne vais pas signer l'ordre d'exécution à l'égard de Tarek Aziz et je ne vais pas signer un ordre de ce genre parce que je suis socialiste", indique Jalal Talabani à France 24. >>> LEMONDE.FR avec Reuters et AFP | Mecredi 17 Novembre 2010

Christian Woman Sentenced to Death in Pakistan 'for Blasphemy'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A Christian woman has been sentenced to hang in Pakistan after being convicted of defaming the Prophet Mohammed.

Asia Bibi, a 45-year-old mother-of-five, denies blasphemy and told investigators that she was being persecuted for her faith in a country where Christians face routine harassment and discrimination.

Christian groups and human rights campaigners condemned the verdict and called for the blasphemy laws to be repealed.

Her supporters say she will now appeal against the sentence handed down in a local court in the town of Sheikhupura, near Lahore, Pakistan.

Ashiq Masih, her husband, said he had not had the heart to break the news to two of their children.

"I haven't told two of my younger daughters about the court's decision," he said. "They asked me many times about their mother but I can't get the courage to tell them that the judge has sentenced their mother to capital punishment for a crime she never committed." Mrs Bibi has been held in prison since June last year. >>> Rob Crilly in Islamabad and Aoun Sahi in Lahore | Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Tariq Aziz Sentenced to Death
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Tariq Aziz, Saddam Hussein's former deputy prime minister, has been sentenced to death, according to Iraqi state television.

In the first such sentence handed down against the longtime international face of the Saddam regime, the report said: "The supreme criminal court issued an execution order against Tariq Aziz for his role in eliminating religious parties".

It said that the court also ordered death sentences against two other top Saddam lieutenants, Saadoun Shaker, the former Iraq interior minister, and Abid Hamoud, the executed dictator's secretary.

All three were sentenced for their roles in a crackdown on members of Iraq's Shiite majority community that followed a 1991 uprising against Saddam.

By law, the sentences have to be confirmed by the presidential council before being carried out. >>> | Tuesday, October 26, 2010

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Vatican calls for clemency for Tareq Aziz: The Vatican on Tuesday urged clemency for Iraq's former deputy premier Tareq Aziz, after a court sentenced him to death for murder and crimes against humanity. >>> | Wednesday, October 27, 2010

RADIO VATIKAN: Vatikan: „Todesstrafe an Aziz nicht vollziehen“ : Der Vatikan ruft den den Irak dazu auf, den früheren Außenminister des Saddam-Regimes Tarek Aziz nicht hinzurichten. „Die Haltung der Kirche zur Todesstrafe ist bekannt“, erklärte Vatikansprecher Federico Lombardi am Montag Abend – kurz nachdem Aziz von einem irakischen Sondertribunal zum Tod durch den Strang verurteilt worden war. Der Jesuit wörtlich: „Wir hoffen wirklich, dass das Urteil nicht vollstreckt wird“: Eine solche Geste könne „Versöhnung und Wiederaufbau“ im Irak nach all den „großen Leiden“ fördern. >>> (rv 27.10.2010 sk) | Mittwoch, 27. Oktober 2010

Virginia Set to Execute First Woman in Nearly a Century
THE GUARDIAN: Teresa Lewis will die by lethal injection on Thursday unless an appeal to the supreme court can save her

The state of Virginia this week plans to carry out its first execution of a woman in nearly a century, despite claims that Teresa Lewis has severe learning difficulties.

Lewis's last hope is an appeal to the US supreme court after Robert McDonnell, the state governor, said he will not spare the life of the 41-year-old who was convicted of arranging for two men to murder her husband and stepson. She is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Thursday.

The men who carried out the killings – one of whom was Lewis's lover – received life sentences.

Lewis's last hope of avoiding the death chamber is an appeal before the supreme court. Her lawyers will argue that because she has such a low IQ her execution would be unconstitutional. >>> Chris McGreal in Washington | Sunday, September 19, 2010

Iran Stoning Case Lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei's Relatives Arrested
THE GUARDIAN: The lawyer defending Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani himself faces re-arrest as his wife and brother-in-law are held by Iran authorities

Authorities in Iran have issued an arrest warrant for an acclaimed Iranian lawyer and arrested his wife and brother-in-law over his involvement in the case of a woman sentenced to death by stoning.

Lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei's office in Tehran was ransacked, and he was interrogated in Evin prison for four hours on Saturday over his human rights activities and involvement in the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the 43-year-old mother of two who was convicted of adultery and whose plight in Iran has drawn international attention since her children launched a campaign for her release almost a month ago.

Mostafaei called Sakineh's stoning sentence "a bogus conviction" and "absolutely illegal" in an interview with the Guardian earlier this month.

He was released, then called back for further questioning before being set free. Authorities then issued an arrest warrant.

When they were unable to find him the authorities arrested his wife, Fereshteh Halimi and her brother Farhad Halimi to try to force him to surrender. However, it is still unclear whether Mostafaei has been arrested or he has managed to evade officials. >>> Saeed Kamali Dehghan | Monday, July 26, 2010

Related >>>

’Help Us Save Our Mother’: Pleas from the Children of ‘Adulterous’ Iranian Woman Who Faces Death by Stoning
MAIL ONLINE: An Iranian mother-of-two faces death by stoning after being convicted of adultery.

Amnesty International today urged the Iranian authorities to halt the execution of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani.

The human rights organisation describes stoning as a ‘grotesque and unacceptable penalty which Iran should abolish immediately’.

Ashtiani’s children joined in with a heart-breaking appeal to the international community to help spare their mother’s life.

‘Please help end this nightmare and do not let it turn into a reality,’ begged her daughter, Farideh, 16, and her son, Sajad, 20.

‘Explaining the minutes and seconds of our lives is very difficult. Words lose their meaning in these agonising moments. Help us save our mother.’

Ashtiani, 43, was convicted of having an ‘illicit relationship’ with two men in May 2006 and received 99 lashes as her sentence.

Despite this, she was later convicted of ‘adultery while being married’ and was sentenced to death by stoning. >>> Michael Theodoulou | Thursday, July 01, 2010

New Dark Age Alert! Uganda Plans Death Penalty For Homosexuals
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

Mumbai Attack Gunman Sentenced to Death
THE TELEGRAPH: The only gunman to survive the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai has been sentenced to death by an Indian court.

Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, a 22-year-old Pakistani citizen, was found guilty on Monday of 86 charges, including waging war against India, murder and terrorism offences for his role in the attack on India's financial capital that left 166 dead.

Judge M.L. Tahaliyani said the man described by prosecutors as a "killing machine" should be hanged.

"I don't find any case for a lesser punishment than death in the case of waging war against India, murder and terrorist acts," the judge said. >>> | Thursday, May 06, 2010

Egyptian Businessman Denies Murdering Lebanese Pop Star
THE TELEGRAPH: One of Egypt's most powerful businessmen has denied murdering his Lebanese pop singer lover in a case that has caused fascination across the Middle East.

Hisham Talaat Moustafa appeared in court along with one of his employees, Mohsen el-Sukkari, a former state security officer, who police say slit the throat of Suzanne Tamim in her Dubai apartment.

"It didn't happen. None of that happened," Mr Moustafa, dressed in white prison clothes, told the court from the black cage in which the men were held.

The two men have already been sentenced to hang by a court in Cairo, but a retrial was ordered by an appeal judge citing legal irregularities in the lower court.

The judge said defence requests went ignored in the trial and Mr Sukkari was first questioned in the absence of a lawyer.

The trial was postponed to Wednesday to allow the defence to review evidence. >>> Samer al-Atrush in Cairo | Monday, April 26, 2010

Related / Verbunden:

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Ägypten: Millionär soll wegen Mordes hingerichtet werden >>> dpa | Donnerstag, 21. Mai 2009

‘The Firing Squad, Please,’ Says Prisoner
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Ronnie Lee Gardner had a quarter-century to ponder his choice, whether to die by lethal injection or take four bullets in the heart.

In a Utah courtroom Friday, 25 years after he was sentenced to death for killing a man during an escape attempt, he declared his preference to the judge: “I would like the firing squad, please.”

With Mr. Gardner’s appeals apparently exhausted, Judge Robin W. Reese of Third District Court in Salt Lake City signed a warrant of execution and scheduled it for June 18. >>> Erik Eckholm | Friday, April 23, 2010

Homophobic and Anti-Semitic Preacher Invited to London University
PINK NEWS: A Muslim cleric who has called Jews “filth” and gay people “sick” has been invited to speak at a London university tonight (Thursday).

Sheikh Abdullah Hakim Quick will be speaking at the Strand campus of Kings College tonight on “Islamic solutions to environmental problems”, as part of the university’s green week.

Sheikh Quick was featured on a New Zealand television programme in 2003 where he called Jewish people “filth”, said gays were “not natural” and warned that Islam’s position on homosexuality was “death”.

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell accused him of “coming close” to advocating violence against gays and said university bosses were too “weak and cowardly” to prevent such clerics visiting campuses >>> Jessica Geen | Thursday, February 25, 2010