Twice in the past two weeks, courts in Malaysia have condemned people to death for marijuana trafficking offenses.

Even as a worldwide campaign to end the death penalty for drug offenses gears up, the

Despite a global trend toward abolition of the death penalty, a number of countries continue not only to use the ultimate sanction, but to apply it to nonviolent drug offenders.

Indonesian authorities executed two Nigerian men, Iwachekwu Okoye and Hansen Anthony Nwaliosa, for drug trafficking on International Anti-Drug Day, June 26.

The resort to the death penalty for drug offenses continues apace. And it is the usual suspects. Here's what's gone on so far this month, with a glimmer of potential good news from Vietnam.

Prison Fellowship and Sojourners in partnership with Telos Films and Liberation Entertainment cordially invites you to attend a free, private screening of the award winning film TAKE.

With one in 100 American adults behind bars, more and more juries across the country are handing down sentences of life without parole.

Countries around the world, but particularly in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, continue to resort to the death penalty for drug offenses.

[Courtesy of Hands Off Cain]

In this issue:

IRAN. 12 CONVICTS HANGED
NORTH CAROLINA (USA). DEATH ROW INMATE WALKS FREE-129TH EXONERATION
DRC. FIGHTING TO ESTABLISH THE UNCONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE DEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA. 3 PAKISTANIS EXECUTED FOR HASHISH SMUGGLING

IRAN. 12 CONVICTS HANGED

Drug traffickers after being executed in Iran

May 5, 2008: Iran has hanged 12 convicted criminals, including nine drug traffickers and three rapists, the latest in a growing number of executions in the Islamic republic, reports said. Nine drug traffickers were hanged, one of them in public, in the northeastern city of Bojnourd, Kayhan newspaper reported, without giving the date of the executions. This appears to be the first report of a public execution in Iran since judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi ordered in January that there should be no more public executions without his approval. "One person was hanged in public," said Kayhan, without giving further details. Shahroudi's decree came after a growing number of public executions in Iran, including the hanging of two convicted murderers in the centre of Tehran. It was not clear if he had approved the reported public execution in Bojnourd. Meanwhile, three criminals convicted of kidnapping and raping at least 11 girls were sent to the gallows in the southwestern city of Ahvaz on May 3, the Quds newspaper reported.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NORTH CAROLINA (USA). DEATH ROW INMATE WALKS FREE-129TH EXONERATION

May 2, 2008: The state of North Carolina dropped all charges against Levon Jones, and he was freed after spending 13 years on death row. U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle overturned Jones's conviction two years ago, but he was held in prison awaiting a possible retrial until prosecutors announced that they were dismissing all charges. Judge Boyle criticized Jones's defense attorneys for "constitutionally deficient" performance, noting their failure to research the history and credibility of Lovely Lorden, the prosecution's star witness. The judge noted, "Given the weakness of the prosecution's case and its heavy reliance on the testimony of Lovely Lorden, there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different." In April, Jones's new defense team filed an affidavit in which Lorden said, "Much of what I testified to was simply not true." She also stated that a detective coached her on what to say. Additionally, she collected $4,000 from the governor's office for offering the clues that led to the arrest of Jones. Jones's retrial was set to begin May 12th, 2008. Duplin County District Attorney Dewey Hudson decided to ask the judge in the case to drop all charges. Jones was originally convicted of robbing and shooting a bootlegger named Leamon Grady. Levon Jones is the 129th inmate to be exonerated and freed from death row since 1973. He is the 8th such inmate freed from North Carolina, and the 6th person in the country exonerated in the past 12 months.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DRC. FIGHTING TO ESTABLISH THE UNCONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE DEATH PENALTY

Liévin N'Gondji

May 1, 2008: ongoing penal code reform in the Democratic Republic of Congo is giving abolitionists the chance to have the death penalty recognised as unconstitutional. The current Democratic Republic of Congo constitution, in place since early 2006, recognises the "right to life" and the "inviolable nature of human beings". A proposition for an article explicitly abolishing the death penalty was rejected by the national parliament during the text's elaboration in 2005. "We have submitted two requests, one to the director of public prosecutions' office and a second to the Ministry of Justice" to formally establish the unconstitutionality of the death penalty, explains Liévin N'Gondji, a lawyer and president of Culture for Peace and Justice (CPJ), member of the World and Congolese Coalitions against the death penalty. Thanks to international aid, the DRC's judicial system is being reformed and donors financing the project have invited CPJ to participate in the joint justice Commission, principally responsible for revising the penal code. N'Gondji estimates that "approximately three quarters of those present were in agreement" with his position on the unconstitutionality of capital punishment. According to N'Gondji, the Commission will make its recommendations to the government by the end of May. The latter should then make a decision quickly. "The next three months will be crucial", he believes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SAUDI ARABIA. 3 PAKISTANIS EXECUTED FOR HASHISH SMUGGLING

May 1, 2008: Zargar Sadajan, Roajan Sodajar, and Naik Mohammed Malak Mohammed, all Pakistanis, were executed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after being convicted of receiving large quantities of hashish. A statement released by the Saudi Interior Ministry confirmed that the men were convicted by the court, and the verdict was approved by the Cassation Court and the Supreme Judicial Council.

The resort to the death penalty for drug offenses continued apace in recent days.

The resort to the ultimate sanction against drug offenders continues this month, with courts in Algeria, Syria and Pakistan handing down death sentences.

The resort to the death penalty for drug offenses continued unabated this week and arguably scaled new heights as an Indian court sentenced a man to death for selling hash and an Iranian court hand

In a series of notices published this week, the death penalty abolitionist group Hands Off Cain reported on both bad news and good when it

The notices generally appear as brief blips on the news wires, or perhaps as one-paragraph summaries in the international sections of newspapers: "Iran Hangs Three for Heroin Smuggling," "Vietnam S

Both Iran and Vietnam greeted the new year by resorting -- yet again -- to the ultimate sanction for drug trafficking offenders.

Even as the UN General Assembly voted this week for a death penalty moratorium, two Asian nations we

A Vietnamese court sentenced eight people to death for smuggling heroin Wednesday, bringing to 35 the number of p

The use of the death penalty against drug offenders continues at a brisk pace in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Saudi Arabia continued its bid to remain in the top ranks among countries who execute people for drug offenses, beheading two Pakistanis in different parts of the country last week.

Two more drug offenders were executed in Iran, this time in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchstan, the anti-death penalty group

• read full post
• 1 comment