Saudi Arabia Executes Seven Men Despite UN Appeal for Clemency
THE GUARDIAN: Human rights activists say men were executed by firing squad, but country's official news agency says they were beheaded

Saudi Arabia has executed seven men for an armed robbery, the interior ministry said, despite an appeal for clemency by United Nations human rights investigators.

The seven, some of whom were under 18 when the crime was committed in 2006, had been due to be put to death last week but were granted a stay of execution while authorities reviewed their case.

Human rights activists in Saudi Arabia said they had been executed by firing squad, but the country's official news agency said they had been beheaded. The original sentences called for death by firing squad and crucifixion.

The men, from Asir province in the south of the country, were convicted of robbery and theft. » | Agencies in Riyadh | Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Last Minute Reprieve for Saudi Due to Be Crucified
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Saudi Arabia's royal family has issued a last-minute stay of execution to a jewellery thief sentenced to be crucified after an outcry from human rights groups.

Sarhan al-Mashayekh was one of seven men whose death sentences were confirmed by King Abdullah on Saturday. The other six were due be shot by firing squad on Tuesday. Mashayekh would have been executed at the same time and then, to fulfil his additional sentence, his body displayed to the public in a cruciform position for three days.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other human rights groups all exressed outrage at the sentences, partly because of their severity, partly because the defendants claimed confessions had been extracted under torture, and partly because at least two of those condemned were minors at the time the crimes were committed.

On Tuesday afternoon the sentences were put on hold, local officials and relatives said. The delay was ordered by Prince Faisal bin Khaled al-Saud, the governor of Asir province, where the case took place, one official said. » | Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent | Tuesday, March 05, 2013

Saudi Arabia's Treatment of Foreign Workers Under Fire after Beheading of Sri Lankan Maid
THE OBSERVER: The execution of 24-year-old Rizana Nafeek has cast a spotlight on the plight of dozens of migrant workers on death row in Saudi Arabia

More than 45 foreign maids are facing execution on death row in Saudi Arabia, the Observer has learned, amid growing international outrage at the treatment of migrant workers.

The startling figure emerged after Saudi Arabia beheaded a 24-year-old Sri Lankan domestic worker, Rizana Nafeek, in the face of appeals for clemency from around the world.

The exact number of maids on death row is almost certainly higher, but Saudi authorities do not publish official figures. Indonesians are believed to account for the majority of those facing a death sentence. Human rights groups say 45 Indonesian women are on death row, and five have exhausted the legal process.

Figures for other nationalities are harder to come by. Rights groups say they believe there are also Sri Lankan, Filipina, Indian and Ethiopian maids facing the death penalty.

Nafeek's execution drew condemnation from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, both of which have campaigned against the death penalty in Saudi Arabia. They say many migrant domestic workers, drawn to the Middle East by the prospect of employment with well-off families, face abuse.

"Some domestic workers find kind employers who treat them well, but others face intense exploitation and abuse, ranging from months of hard work without pay to physical violence to slavery-like conditions," said Nisha Varia from Human Rights Watch. There are about 1.5 million foreign maids in Saudi Arabia, including about 375,000 Sri Lankans.

An International Labour Organisation report last week warned that an estimated 52.6 million domestic workers around the world lack legal rights and protections. But Varia said Saudi Arabia posed unique problems because legal protections were weaker and the chance of access to justice more remote.

"The Saudi justice system is characterised by arbitrary arrests, unfair trials and harsh punishments," she said. "Migrants are at high risk of being victims of spurious charges. A domestic worker facing abuse or exploitation from her employer might run away and then be accused of theft. Employers may accuse domestic workers, especially those from Indonesia, of witchcraft. Victims of rape and sexual assault are at risk of being accused of adultery and fornication." » | Gethin Chamberlain | Sunday, January 13, 2013

North Korean Army Minister 'Executed with Mortar Round'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A North Korean army minister was executed with a mortar round for reportedly drinking and carousing during the official mourning period after Kim Jong-il's death.

Kim Chol, vice minister of the army, was taken into custody earlier this year on the orders of Kim Jong-un, who assumed the leadership after the death of his father in December.

On the orders of Kim Jong-un to leave "no trace of him behind, down to his hair," according to South Korean media, Kim Chol was forced to stand on a spot that had been zeroed in for a mortar round and "obliterated."

The execution of Kim Chol is just one example of a purge of members of the North Korean military or party who threatened the fledgling regime of Kim Jong-un. » | Julian Ryall, Tokyo | Wednesday, October 24, 2012

North Korea 'Executes Four Returned Refugees'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: North Korea has publicly executed four refugees who were repatriated by China and sent 40 others to its notorious prison camps, a South Korean activist said on Monday.

China has repatriated 44 fugitives from its communist neighbour in recent months, said Kim Heung-Kwang, who heads NK Intellectuals Solidarity, a Seoul-based defectors' group.

Four of them were executed and 40 sent to camps for political prisoners, he told a seminar. South Korean rights groups say there are six political prison camps in the North holding around 200,000 detainees. » | Source: AFP | Monday, June 25, 2012

Arab Spring Leads to Wave of Middle East State Executions
THE GUARDIAN: Arab uprisings lead to rise in capital punishment in Middle East but Amnesty finds some comfort in world figures – even in China

Middle Eastern countries have stepped up their use of capital punishment, executing hundreds of people as rulers across the region seek to deter the wave of uprisings sweeping the Arab countries.

Despite a significant reduction in the number of countries that used the death penalty worldwide last year, there was a sharp rise in executions in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Yemen, according to Amnesty International's annual capital punishment survey, released on Tuesday.

China remained at the top of the list of the countries with the worst record of executions last year. Authorities in China maintained their policy of refusing to release precise figures on the death penalty in the country, which they consider a state secret. » | Saeed Kamali Dehghan and Ed Pilkington in New York | Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Capital punishment in 2011 – interactive »

Europe Moves to Block Trade in Medical Drugs Used in US Executions

THE GUARDIAN: New export controls will further limit the ability of states already facing severe shortages of sedatives used to kill prisoners

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

Saudi Arabia Executes Woman Convicted of 'Sorcery'

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Saudi authorities have executed a woman convicted of practicing magic and sorcery.

The Saudi Interior Ministry says in a statement the execution took place on Monday, but gave no details on the woman's crime.

The London-based al-Hayat daily, however, quoted Abdullah al-Mohsen, chief of the religious police who arrested the woman, as saying she had tricked people into thinking she could treat illnesses, charging them $800 per session.

The paper said a female investigator followed up, and the woman was arrested in April, 2009, and later convicted in a Saudi court.

It did not give the woman's name, but said she was in her 60s.

The beheading took to 73 the number of executions in Saudi Arabia this year. » | Monday, December 12, 2011

Iraq Executes 16 Al-Qaeda Members Convicted Over Wedding Massacre
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Iraq has executed 16 al-Qaeda members convicted of involvement in the massacre of 70 people at a wedding, although they were officially put to death for other murders, a judicial spokesman said.

“Sixteen people were executed this morning,” Abdelsattar Birakdar told AFP, adding that “all of them were al-Qaeda members.”

Mr Birakdar said that the 16 were convicted of involvement in the massacre of 70 people at a wedding in 2006, but were put to death for the murder of cooking gas salesmen. » | Thursday, November 24, 2011

Iran: un homme pendu pour avoir violé 37 femmes
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Un homme condamné à mort pour les viols de 37 femmes qu’il avait filmés en vidéo a été pendu samedi à Ispahan, dans le centre de l’Iran.

Cette pendaison porte à 219 le nombre des exécutions en Iran depuis le début de l’année.

Citant un responsable judiciaire local, Fars indique que l’homme, non identifié, «filmait ses victimes chez lui et se servait de ces films pour les forcer ensuite à subir de nouvelles agressions», sans donner davantage de détails. » | ATS/AFP | Dimanche 09 Octobre 2011

Rick Perry's Execution Record Greeted by Wild Applause from Republicans
The execution of 234 people during Rick Perry's tenure as the governor of Texas was loudly applauded by Republicans during a debate to choose America's next presidential candidate.

Killer's Excessive Order Ends Texas's 'Last Request' Meals

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: HOUSTON – Texan death-row inmates will no longer get their choice of last meals, after the menu request of a man condemned for a hate-crime slaying left a bad taste in the mouth of a prominent senator.

Lawrence Russell Brewer, who was executed on Wednesday, asked for two chicken-fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, fried okra, a pound (450 grams) of barbecued meat, three fajitas, a meat lover's pizza, a pint (nearly half a litre) of ice-cream and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts.

Prison officials said Brewer did not eat any of it.

Brewer, a white supremacist gang member, was convicted of chaining James Byrd jnr, 49, to the back of a pick-up truck and dragging him to his death along a bumpy road in 1998. » | Michael Graczyk | Saturday, September 24, 2011

Ahmadinejad at UN Amid ‘Reign of Fear’
THE TIMES: While President Ahmadinejad denounces his enemies at the UN with customary relish, 20 people are scheduled to be executed in Iran this week » | Monday, September 19, 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

Executions in Iran: How the Religion of Peace Treats Its Followers
The execution of Hossein and Majid Kavousifar
Warning! This film video is very disturbing, and should not be watched by the squeamish

'Huda the Executioner' - Libya's Devil in Female Form
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: How pulling on a hanging man's legs made Huda Ben Amer one of Colonel Gaddafi's most trusted elite.


When Colonel Gaddafi hanged his first political opponent in Benghazi's basketball stadium, thousands of schoolchildren and students were rounded up to watch a carefully choreographed, sadistic display of the regime's version of justice.

They had been told they would see the trial of one of the Colonel's enemies.

But instead a gallows was dramatically produced as the condemned man knelt in the middle of the basketball court, weeping and asking for his mother, hands bound behind his back.

The crowd, many of them children, cried and yelled out "No, no" or called on God to help them as they realised what was about to happen. Two young men bravely ran up to the revolutionary judges and begged them for mercy.

The worst moment came right at the end, as the hanged man kicked and writhed on the gallows. A determined-looking young woman stepped forward, grabbed him by the legs, and pulled hard on his body until the struggling stopped. >>> Nick Meo, Benghazi | Sunday, March 06, 2011

EXEKUTION IN IRAN: Fall Bahrami – Hinrichtung entsetzt Niederlande
WELT ONLINE: Die Niederlande sind erzürnt über die Exekution einer Landsfrau im Iran. Der Außenminister spricht von der ,,barbarischen Tat eines barbarischen Regimes".

Vor etwas mehr als einer Woche wurde Sahra Bahrami im Iran exekutiert. Die Frau mit niederländischem und iranischem Pass wurde beschuldigt, mit Drogen zu handeln. Das wurde jedoch nie vor einem unabhängigen Gericht bewiesen. Auch ließ es der islamische Gottesstaat nicht zu, dass die 45-jährige Mutter Hilfe von einem Anwalt ihres Vertrauens oder vom niederländischen Konsulat bekam. Der Iran erkennt die doppelte Staatsbürgerschaft nicht an. Zudem wurde sie gezwungen, im iranischen Staatsfernsehen ein Bekenntnis abzulegen. Diplomatischer Konflikt mit Teheran – Den Haag zieht Botschafter ab >>> Autor: Rob Savelberg | Mittwoch, 09. Februar 2011

Iranian Web Programmer Faces Execution on Porn Charges
THE GUARDIAN: Saeed Malekpour sentenced to death after allegedly confessing under torture

A 35-year-old Iranian web programmer is facing imminent execution in connection with developing and promoting porn websites, charges that his family insist are trumped up.

Saeed Malekpour, a permanent resident of Canada who was arrested in October 2008 after his arrival in Tehran, is convicted of designing and moderating adult content websites, acting against the national security, insulting and desecrating the principles of Islam, and agitating the public mind.

Speaking from Toronto, Malekpour's wife, Fatemeh Eftekhari, said her husband has been informed of the verdict and has been transferred to solitary confinement for the sentence to be administered if the supreme court sanctions it. She says her husband was a web programmer who had written photo uploading software that was used in a porn website without his knowledge. >>> Saeed Kamali Dehghan | Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Iran's 'Execution Binge' Condemned
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Iranian authorities have unleashed an "execution binge" with an average rate of one person hanged every eight hours since the beginning of the year, a rights group monitoring the Islamic Republic says.

"The Iranian judiciary is on an execution binge orchestrated by the intelligence and security agencies," Aaron Rhodes, a spokesman for the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, said yesterday. >>> | Monday, January 17, 2011

Iran Hangs Former Soccer Player's Mistress
THE GUARDIAN: TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran on Wednesday hanged a former soccer player's mistress — known as a "temporary wife — who was convicted of murdering her love rival, the player's wife, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Shahla Jahed was hanged at dawn, after spending more than eight years in jail, IRNA said, in a case that has captivated the Iranian public for several years.

Jahed had become what is known as a "temporary wife" of former soccer star Nasser Mohammad Khani. She was charged in 2002 with stabbing to death Laleh Saharkhizan, the player's wife, and convicted of murder in 2004 and again in 2009, after her appeal was denied.

Contracts with "temporary wives" are a legal way for Iranian men to have mistresses outside marriage, with the agreements lasting from between several hours to a few years.

Wednesday's death sentence was based on the Islamic law of "qisas" — or eye for an eye retribution.

International human rights groups, including Amnesty International, had campaigned for Jahed's punishment to be halted.

The IRNA report said that just before the hanging at Tehran's Evin prison, the 40-year-old Jahed prayed peacefully, then burst into tears and cries, shouting for her life to be spared. >>> Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press | Wednesday, December 01, 2010