Singapore defends death penalty in first rights report to UN

Singapore in its inaugural report to the United Nations on the status of human rights defended its tough stance on the death penalty as well as other issues like detention without trial that have repeatedly come under fire from human rights groups.

The city-state is set in May to undergo the first stage of a review under the UN's Human Rights Council as part of the UN's effort to review the human rights situation in all its 192 member states.

The report released late Friday said 'as a young city-state with a multiracial, multireligious and multilingual population, Singapore has no margin for error.'

The government said it respected the universality of human rights but maintained that 'the manner in which all rights are attained and implemented must take cognizance of specific national circumstances and aspirations.'

On the death penalty, which is mandatory for murder and some drug-related offences, the report said Singapore 'considers capital punishment as a criminal justice issue rather than a human rights issue.'

'In the case of drug trafficking, the death penalty has deterred major drug syndicates from establishing themselves here,' it argued.

The report also defended Singapore's Internal Security Act, which allows detention without trial, saying it was preventive in neutralizing threats to national security and had proved effective in fighting terrorism.

'Governments around the world increasingly recognize the need for preventive powers within a comprehensive institutionalized legal framework to deal effectively with terrorism and all forms of violent extremism,' it said.

The report countered criticism by groups like Human Rights Watch that Singapore's laws on assembly and freedom of expression sharply limit peaceful criticism of the government and stymie dissenting voices.

'Behind the facade of a dynamic and open Singapore promoted by the government is a more sinister reality of serious restrictions on civil and political rights and determination to maintain one-party rule,' Human Rights Watch said in January. 'Behind the sunny Singaporean smile featured in tourism ads, there are iron teeth prepared to deal with those considered a challenge to the government.'

The government countered this week that given Singapore's small size and high population density and diversity, 'it is vital that individual rights and freedoms be exercised responsibly within a legal framework.'

Singapore, however, was open for change, the report added.

'We recognize that as the demands of our people change over time so too must our goals and policies,' it said.

Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur, February 26, 2011

Singapore's human rights record under UN scrutiny

The Singapore government has submitted its report on the country's human rights track record to the United Nations, as part of a review of all UN member states.

This is the 1st time Singapore's human rights record is under scrutiny by the UN. 159 states have been reviewed since the 1st Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session in April 2008.

The 10,700-word report submitted to the UN seeks to put in context Singapore's political and social landscape.

It also looks into the protection of human rights in areas such as housing, education and special interest groups such as women, children and migrant workers.

Observers said issues that could attract attention include those concerning Singapore's position on detention without trial, right of assembly and corporal punishment including the death penalty.

In its report, the government said Singapore's diverse multi-racial, multi-religious society poses a challenge in balancing social harmony with the preservation of individual rights.

Under the chapter on political and civil liberties, the government said "no person has ever been detained for engaging in lawful political activities" in Singapore.

It added Singaporeans are free to set up societies and associations. There were 7,100 registered societies in 2009, compared to 5,300 in 1999 and 3,900 in 1988.

But the report added while Singaporeans are free to establish such groups, there are certain restrictions in the Societies Act to "ensure that groups intended for unlawful purposes or pose a threat to public order and welfare are not established".

Between 2007 and 2009, 5 out of 886 applications for registration were rejected.

The government added Singapore "considers capital punishment as a criminal justice issue, rather than a human rights one".

The report said capital punishment is imposed only for the most serious of crimes.

In the case of drug trafficking, the death penalty has deterred major drug syndicates from establishing themselves in Singapore.

On preventive detention, the government said it's a "last resort" to counter serious threats against public or national security.

"The need to protect witnesses and informants from intimidation is one of the reasons for preventive detention".

The Internal Security Act (ISA) for example, is not "punitive" but "preventive" in neutralising threats such as the emergence of terror group, the Jemaah Islamiyah.

The report said: "Governments around the world increasingly recognise the need for preventive powers within a comprehensive institutionalised framework to deal effectively with terrorism and all forms of violent extremism".

While the Singapore constitution provides that every citizen has the right to freedom of expression, the report said "Singapore's small size, high population density and diversity mean that actions or speech by one group of people could potentially have an impact on other groups.

"Given this, it is vital that individual rights and freedoms be exercised responsibly within a legal framework".

Civil society groups said the process is a good learning journey.

Braema Mathi, chairperson of Maruah, which represents a coalition of civil society organisations in Singapore, said: "It runs the risk of being a talk show, definitely we have to admit that, and I think this is where the test comes for the state -- whether the state is serious and to the best that all I have seen of Singapore, Singapore takes its international conventions very seriously and when it does agree to something, it tries to make sure that it acts on them.

"So I'm hoping that this will be one such structure that it will move on certain things.

"Of course, it will be foolhardy to think that 'wow! We will go and change everything overnight', but on certain crucial things, I think we must move and I hope that in the next 4-year cycle, we can go there and say 'ok these areas, we have improved substantially, not just the marginal tinkering around the edges'.

"We hope that with greater publicity, (we) will be more aware of human rights. This is in a way a report card that the UN is trying to bring more and more countries onto a universal platform on how human rights is appreciated, observed and acted upon.

"I think that's a very good beginning and we hope that more of our citizens will get engaged in looking at this".

Ms Mathi said this was a rigorous process for civil society and the government because Singapore is fact oriented.

"And in that process, we also do a lot of self learning and that's a good thing," she said.

"This cannot be done in isolation, governments cannot work on these things on their own, neither can civil society. So the more we interact, the more we consult one another, the more we work towards common goals, the better we make the country."

Still, Ms Mathi said she would have seen more of the inputs from civil society groups included in the report.

"The state has given a factual accounting of our thought processes, our history, how we relate to, in broad strokes, the concept of human rights.

"Basically it is the state stating its case in a lot of ways and I think there are no surprises in that approach.

"It would have been good to have some response because for the first time, quite a number of the civil society organisations put up their report to the office of the human rights council and therefore I do think it would have been great to see some form of interaction.

"But I also understand that this is the approach the state will take and all the specific issues will come up on May 6 when the government will be due for its report submission and interaction by other governments, who will then ask questions alongside international NGOs.

"So we hope that during that period of interaction, there will be more substantive questions on the various matters raised by the different civil society groups".

The national report is 1 of 3 to be submitted to the UN.

The rest are reports by local and international civil society organisations as well as one from the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights.

Singapore, led by Minister for Home Affairs & Minister for Law K Shanmugam, will make its representation in Geneva on May 6.

The 3-hour session will involve a dialogue with UN member and observer states.

An outcome document which is a summary of the proceedings and recommendations will be adopted on May 10.

The final outcome document will be adopted in September. This is where civic society organisations can also speak before the UN formally adopts the outcome document.

The final outcome document from this process will form the basis of the next review in 4 years.

The government has said Singapore will build on its achievements in human rights.

Preserving racial and religious harmony is top priority but it added laws will evolve to meet the changing political, economic and social aspirations of Singaporeans".

Source: Singapore News, February 25, 2011
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Concern over the growing wave of executions in Iran

The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) condemns the execution of Mr. Jafar Kazemi and Mr. Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaii, both convicted of Moharebeh "enmity against God", which carries the death penalty, for their participation in post-election protests and membership in the banned opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI). OMCT is also gravely concerned about the risk of imminent execution of Mr. Abdolreza Ghanbari, Mr. Ahmad Daneshpour Moghaddam and his son, Mr. Mohsen Daneshpour Moghaddam, Mr. Javad Lari and Ms. Farah Vazehan, who were as well found guilty of Moharebeh for alleged links to the PMOI. OMCT calls upon the Iranian Judiciary to immediately suspend the execution sentence of the above mentioned individuals as well as halt all executions in Iran. 

According to the information received, Mr. Jafar Kazemi, 47 years old, and Mr. Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaii, 52 yeas old, were hanged, on 24 January 2011, in Evin prison, Tehran, without their family or lawyers being notified. They had been arrested in September and December 2009 respectively based on visits they had made to Camp Ashraf in Iraq, where approximately 3’400 members of the PMOI live in exile, including Mr. Jafar Kazemi's son. 

Mr. Jafar Kazemi and Mr. Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaii were reportedly held more than a year in solitary confinement before their execution. Mr. Jafar Kazemi is also reported to have suffered torture with the purpose of extracting a confession but he consistently denied any illegal activity. Neither of these men received a fair trial. They were sentenced to death in April 2010 and their appeals were later rejected by the Supreme Court. 

Given these executions, OMCT is gravely concerned that Mr. Abdolreza Ghanbari, Mr. Ahmad Daneshpour Moghaddam, Mr. Mohsen Daneshpour Moghaddam, Mr. Javad Lari and Ms. Farah Vazehan will be executed imminently. 

Since the beginning of the year, it is reported that at least 70 executions were carried out in Iran. OMCT reaffirms its strong opposition to the death penalty as an extreme form of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and a violation of the right to life, as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments. OMCT calls upon the Iranian judicial authorities to immediately halt the execution of Mr. Abdolreza Ghanbari, Mr. Ahmad Daneshpour Moghaddam, Mr. Mohsen Daneshpour Moghaddam, Mr. Javad Lari and Ms. Farah Vazehan. More generally, OMCT calls on the Iranian authorities to stop all executions. 

At a time when momentum is gathering across the world to end capital punishment, the Islamic Republic of Iran defies international human rights law by increasing the number of executions under conditions that blatantly violate international human rights standards. 

OMCT also recalls that Iran is legally bound to effectively ensure the physical and psychological integrity of all persons deprived of liberty in accordance with international human rights law, in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), ratified by Iran. 

Ssource: OMCT--World Organization Against Torture, January 27, 2011

Iran: Deepening Crisis on Rights - Huge Spike in Executions; Lawyers Targeted for Championing Freedoms 

The Iranian government's high rate of executions and targeting of rights defenders, particularly lawyers, in 2010 and early 2011 highlights a deepening of the human rights crisis that gripped the country following the disputed June 2009 presidential election, Human Rights Watch said in issuing its World Report 2011 Iran chapter. According to Iranian media reports, authorities have executed at least 73 prisoners - an average of almost three prisoners per day - since January 1, 2011. 

The 649-page report, the organization's 21st annual review of human rights practices around the globe, summarizes major human rights issues in more than 90 countries worldwide. In Iran, since November 2009 authorities have executed at least 13 people on the vague charge of moharebeh, or "enmity against God," following flawed trials in revolutionary courts. The government also harassed, arrested, detained, and convicted several lawyers in 2010 for their work defending the rights of others. At the same time, scores of civil society activists have spoken out against the government crackdown despite facing harsh consequences. 

"The noose has tightened, in some cases literally, around the necks of activists in Iran," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The government's crackdown has gone beyond silencing post-election demonstrators and is now a broad-based campaign to neutralize Iran's vibrant civil society and consolidate power." 

The executions and mounting pressures against lawyers took place amid a broad crackdown following the election, and resulted in the killing of dozens of demonstrators by security forces and the detention of thousands of political opposition members and civil society activists. In early 2010 security forces announced that they had arrested more than 6,000 people in the months following the June 12, 2009 election. Those arrested included demonstrators, lawyers, rights defenders, journalists, students, and opposition leaders, some of whom remain in prison without charge. Iran's revolutionary courts have issued harsh sentences, in some cases based on forced confessions, against dozens convicted of various national security-related crimes. 

There were a number of attacks by armed groups against civilians in 2010. 3 such attacks during the second half of the year led to the deaths of at least 75 civilians. Iran has used these attacks to justify the execution of anyone convicted of moharebeh, despite evidence indicating that the revolutionary court trials of those charged with this crime did not meet fundamental international fair trial standards, Human Rights Watch said. Iran's Judiciary operated with little - if any - transparency regarding evidence proving that those sentenced to death were in fact linked to armed attacks. 

During the early morning hours of January 24, 2011, Evin prison authorities hanged Jafar Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Haj-Aghai for the crime of moharebeh because of their alleged ties to the banned Mojahedin-e Khalq organization (MEK). Prosecutors had accused the two of sending images of the protests to foreign contacts following the disputed June 2009 presidential election, and shouting anti-government slogans. Prosecutors also used a visit by Kazemi to see his son at an MEK camp in Iraq as proof of his membership in the organization, and alleged that Haj-Aghai had visited the same camp several times. During several interviews with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Kazemi's wife informed the group that interrogators had tortured her husband and kept him in solitary confinement for more than two months after his September 2009 arrest in order to force him to confess to the charges, but that he had refused to do so. Authorities failed to notify the prisoners' family members or lawyers prior to executing them. 

Ali Saremi, a 62-year-old who admittedly sympathized with the ideological and political aspirations of the MEK, was convicted as a member of the group following a flawed trial and hanged in Tehran's Evin prison on December 28, 2010. During his trial, prosecutors pointed to Saremi's 2007 speech at a ceremony at Khavaran cemetery in Tehran commemorating the 1988 execution of thousands of prisoners, many of them MEK members, as evidence of his guilt. As in Kazemi's case, prosecutors used a visit by Saremi in 2007 to a MEK camp in Iraq as proof of his membership in the organization. Saremi denied that he was a member, and the prosecution failed to provide any substantive evidence suggesting that he advocated violence or was involved with the group's operations, Human Rights Watch said. Like Kazemi and Haj-Aghai, Evin prison authorities executed Saremi without providing the notice to his lawyer or his family members that is required by law. 

Saremi was one of a handful of individuals arrested before the disputed June 2009 election on charges of supporting an armed terrorist group who was tried and sentenced to death during the wave of post-election convictions of demonstrators and individuals allegedly involved in what the government refers to as a "coup attempt." Others convicted after the June 2009 election and currently on death row for allegedly supporting the MEK include Mohsen and Ahmad Daneshpour Moghaddam, and Abdolreza Ghanbari. 

In another case, a revolutionary court had sentenced Habibollah Latifi to death for his alleged links with an armed Kurdish opposition group. On December 24 authorities in Sanandaj prison delayed Latifi's execution, which was to take place 2 days later, pending further judicial review of his case. 

Less than two weeks earlier, authorities had hanged 11 men also convicted of moharebeh for their alleged links to the banned People's Resistance Movement of Iran, also known as Jondollah. Little is known about the men's trials and subsequent convictions. The men were executed after a suicide bomber killed at least 39 people in Chabahar in southeastern Iran. The People's Resistance Movement, which claims to fight for the rights of Sunni Muslims in Iran, had claimed responsibility for the attack. It is not clear whether those executed were arrested after the Chabahar attack or were already in prison. 

The 2010-2011 wave of executions of individuals charged with moharebeh due to their alleged involvement in armed groups began on January 28, 2010, when authorities hanged Mohammad-Reza Ali-Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour without providing any notice to their lawyers and family members. As with Saremi, the government had arrested both men prior to the June 2009 presidential election, but tried them as part of the August 2009 mass trials of election protesters, during which they confessed, on state television, to planning a deadly 2008 bombing in the southwest city of Shiraz on behalf of a banned pro-monarchist group. 

Nasrin Sotoudeh, Rahmanipour's lawyer, who is herself now serving a long prison sentence on morality and national security charges, told foreign Persian-language media that authorities allowed her to meet Rahmanipour only once before the trial, for 15 minutes. Sotoudeh, who was ultimately barred from representing her client during his trial, identified numerous other irregularities, including evidence of a forced confession. 

On May 9 authorities executed 5 prisoners, 4 of them ethnic Kurds charged with having ties to an armed Kurdish group. Authorities failed to notify their lawyers in advance and prevented delivery of the bodies to the families for burial. Human Rights Watch documented numerous trial irregularities in these cases, including viable allegations of torture, forced confessions, and lack of adequate access to a lawyer. 

On January 15, 2011, Iranian rights groups reported that authorities had executed Hossein Khezri, one of 16 Kurds then on death row following a revolutionary court conviction for moharebeh. State-controlled media announced that day that prison authorities in West Azerbaijan province had hanged a member of the Party for Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), an armed Iranian Kurdish group, but did not reveal the person's identity. In early 2010 Mohammad Olyaeifard, Khezri's lawyer, who is currently serving a one-year prison sentence for speaking out against the execution of another of his clients, indicated that although Khezri had admitted to joining PJAK militants in Iraq when he was younger, he had been tortured by his interrogators to confess to taking part in a violent attack on behalf of the armed group despite the fact that he had never participated in the group's military wing. 

There has also been an alarming rise in the frequency of executions for crimes other than moharebeh in recent months. On January 16, 2011, The International Campaign on Human Rights in Iran reported that Iran had hanged at least 47 prisoners, "or an average of about one person every eight hours," since the beginning of 2011, most on charges of alleged drug possession and trafficking. Citizens of foreign countries are also affected by these executions, including Zahra Bahrami, an Iranian-Dutch dual citizen currently on death row after being convicted on drug charges. The Campaign also reported that between December 20 and January 1, 2011, authorities executed 43 prisoners. These incidents follow several reports by the Campaign in late 2010 indicating that authorities at Vakilabad prison in the northeast city of Mashhad executed hundreds of prisoners, most of them on drug possession and trafficking charges. 

In 2009, the last year for which statistics are available, Iran executed at least 388 people and was 2nd only to China in the number of executions, according to Amnesty International. Although figures are not yet available for 2010, human rights groups believe that a sharp rise in the number of reported executions during the 2nd half of the year, particularly of individuals charged with drug offenses, pushes the number of executions for this year well beyond 388. 

"Authorities have shown absolutely no regard for human life, whether on the streets of Iranian cities after the disputed June 2009 election or behind the walls of its prisons," Whitson said. "At the current rate authorities will easily have executed more than 1000 prisoners before 2011 draws to a close." 

In light of the serious concerns regarding the Iranian judiciary's ability to provide fair trials, especially for individuals charged with crimes carrying the death penalty, Human Rights Watch renewed its call for the Iranian government to issue an immediate moratorium on executions. 

The arrests and harassment of lawyers during 2010 appeared to be an effort to intimidate and prevent them from effectively representing political detainees, Human Rights Watch said. Sotoudeh, who has represented numerous people charged with serious national security crimes, was sentenced on January 9, 2011, by Branch 26 of Tehran's Revolutionary Court, to 11 years in prison and a 20-year ban on practicing law and traveling outside the country. She was convicted of "acting against the national security," "propaganda against the regime," and failure to observe the Islamic dress code during a taped message she had sent to the International Committee on Human Rights in 2008. The committee, an Italian nongovernmental organization, had awarded Sotoudeh its Human Rights Prize. Since her arrest in September 2010, prison authorities have held Sotoudeh in solitary confinement for months at a time. 

High-level Iranian officials have denied accusations that Sotoudeh was arrested for her activities as a lawyer. Mohammad Javad Larijani, the Head of the Human Rights Council of the Judiciary, recently said that Sotoudeh had engaged "in a very nasty campaign" against the government, referring to several interviews with her by foreign Persian-language media outlets in which she spoke in defense of her clients. On January 20, Sadegh Larijani, the Head of the Judiciary, repeated the government's warning that lawyers should refrain from giving interviews that damage the government's reputation. 

In mid-January, authorities arrested Reza Khandan, Sotoudeh's husband, who had provided information to media outlets and rights groups regarding his wife's condition since her arrest in September. 

Officials similarly harassed, summoned, arrested, or sentenced other prominent lawyers and their families in 2010. Mohammad Mostafaei fled Iran after authorities repeatedly summoned him for questioning and instead detained his wife, father-in-law, and brother-in-law when they could not locate him. Mostafaei had represented high-profile defendants such as Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the woman sentenced to death by stoning, and numerous juvenile detainees on death row. Another one of Ashtiani's lawyers, Houtan Kian, is also in prison. In October, a revolutionary court sentenced Mohammad Seifzadeh, a colleague of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and co-founder of the banned Center for Defenders of Human Rights, to 9 years in prison and banned him from practicing law for 10 years. 

"Despite the huge personal and professional risks involved, Iran's lawyers continue to defend the rights of their clients while highlighting the judiciary's systematic denial of due process rights," Whitson said. "The international community, especially countries with whom Iran has close relations, should demand that the government stop targeting its rights defenders." 

Source: Human Rights Watch, January 27, 2011

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Clemency urged for juvenile offender facing imminent execution in Yemen

Amnesty International has called on the Yemeni authorities to halt the imminent execution of a man facing the death penalty for a murder he is alleged to have committed when he was under 18 years old.

Yemeni authorities are reported to have stopped Muhammed Taher Thabet Samoum's prison visits, prompting fears that his execution could be imminent. He was initially scheduled for execution on 12 January but was granted a temporary reprieve by the Attorney General.

"We urge President Ali Abdullah Saleh to show clemency in this case and prevent the state killing of Muhammed Taher Thabet Samoum, a young man accused of a murder committed when he says he was still under 18," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International's Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

"The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, and it must never be applied to juvenile offenders."

Muhammed Taher Thabet Samoum was sentenced to death in September 2001 by the Criminal Court in Ibb, west Yemen, for a murder he is alleged to have committed in June 1999. He maintains that he was under 18 years old at the time of the alleged offence but does not have a birth certificate.

Another alleged juvenile offender convicted of murder, Fuad Ahmed Ali Abdullah, remains at risk of execution although he was given a temporary reprieve on 18 December 2010, the day before he was due to be executed by firing squad, following the intervention of his lawyer.

He was sentenced to death for a murder committed when he is believed to have been under 18. Yemen's Attorney General is expected to request that his age be determined by a forensic doctor.

"Executing individuals for crimes they are alleged to have committed when they were less than 18 years of age is not only inhumane but also contravenes both Yemeni law Yemen's obligations under international human rights treaties," said Malcolm Smart.

Yemen is a state party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which expressly prohibit the execution of juvenile offenders – those convicted of crimes committed when they were under 18.

Amnesty International is aware of at least eight other people who are possible juvenile offenders on death row in Yemen and has long-standing concerns about the use of the death penalty in the country, particularly as death sentences are often passed after legal proceedings which fail to satisfy international standards for fair trial.

In 2010, at least 51 people were executed in Yemen. At least 2 more people have been executed since the start of this year. Hundreds of people are believed to be under sentence of death.

Source: Amnesty Internatnional, January 18, 2011

Halt Pending Execution of Child Offender

The Yemeni government should immediately halt plans to execute Muhammad Tahir Thabit Samum and revoke his death sentence, Human Rights Watch said today.

Samum is scheduled to be executed as early as January 19, 2011, for a murder he was accused of committing when he said he was still a child. Both Yemeni and international law prohibit imposing the death sentence on individuals who commit crimes while under age 18.

"The Yemeni government should uphold its own laws banning the execution of individuals who committed crimes as children," said Bede Sheppard, senior children's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Samum may be facing imminent execution simply for the lack of a birth certificate."

Samum was sentenced for killing 'Ammar Ahmad Husain al-Jumaili. A Yemeni child protection organization, Seyaj, contends that records in his court file prove that Samum was under 18 at the time.

Yemen retains the death penalty for a wide variety of offenses, among them murder of a Muslim, arson or explosion, endangering transport and communications, apostasy, robbery, prostitution, adultery, and homosexuality, in addition to various crimes against state security. In 1994 Yemen amended its criminal code to require non-capital sentences for crimes committed by people under 18, including a maximum penalty of ten years in prison for those who commit offenses that would carry the death penalty if they were adults.

However, Yemen lacks adequate mechanisms for determining ages of defendants who lack birth certificates, including adequate forensic facilities with staff trained to determine a defendant's age. According to the United Nations Childrens' Fund (UNICEF), only 22 percent of births in Yemen are officially registered, highlighting the importance of having other reasonable procedures for allowing defendants to establish their ages.

"When governments fail to guarantee universal birth registration, the only fair approach is to give great deference to any available evidence suggesting that the defendant was under age," Sheppard said.

Since 1993, Yemen is known to have executed only one juvenile offender, ‘Adil Muhammad Saif al-Ma'amari, in February 2007. A court in Rawna sentenced al-Ma'amari to death on October 19, 2002, for the murder of a relative in an argument when he was 16. Al-Ma'amari told the court that he was under 18 at the time of the murder. Although the judge ordered a medical examination that resulted in an October 10, 2001 finding that he was under age 17, the court nevertheless imposed a death sentence. Al-Ma'amari had no legal assistance during the trial. The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - international treaties to which Yemen is a party - ban the execution of offenders who committed a crime when under age 18. Only three countries - Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan - are known to have executed an individual since the beginning of 2009 for a crime committed before age 18.

Source: Human Rights Watch, January 18, 2011

Gaza: Hamas court orders execution of 'collaborator'

A Gaza military court has convicted 3 men of collaborating with Israel, sentencing one to death and 2 more to prison terms, the Hamas interior ministry said on Monday.

"The military court handed down a death sentence against 1 collaborator with the occupation, and prison terms of seven years and three years for two other collaborators," the ministry said in a statement.

No additional details on the men were provided.

In April, Gaza's Hamas rulers executed 2 alleged "collaborators" in the first executions to be carried out since the Islamist movement seized power in June 2007.

It was also the 1st time executions had been carried out in the coastal enclave for 5 years.

Palestinian law says the president must approve all execution orders before they can be carried out, but Hamas no longer recognises the legitimacy of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, whose 4-year term ended in 2009.

Human Rights Watch says Hamas killed at least 32 alleged informers and political opponents during and after the 2008-2009 Gaza war with Israel and maimed dozens of others.

In April, human rights groups said 14 people were known to have been sentenced to death by military courts in Gaza last year after being convicted on charges of "collaboration," treason and murder.

Israeli security forces and intelligence routinely use Palestinian informers in the occupied territories to thwart attacks and assist in the assassinations of top militants.

Source: Agence France-Presse, December 6, 2010

Blasphemy case splits Pakistanis

PAKISTAN'S President faces mounting pressure to intervene in the case of a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy.

The case has drawn the Vatican's attention and sparked street protests in this Muslim-majority nation.

In a report delivered to President Asif Ali Zardari, Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti recommended that the woman, Asia Bibi, 45, be pardoned or released from prison if her pending appeal is not quickly addressed.

Mr Bhatti said he also recommended amendments to the nation's controversial blasphemy law.

The report followed calls for clemency by Pope Benedict XVI, rights groups, newspapers and the governor of the province where Bibi became the first woman condemned to hang for blasphemy.

But opponents have been equally loud, and the response of Mr Zardari's government will be viewed as a barometer of its will to stand up to hard-line religious groups, including some political allies.

Hundreds of Muslim demonstrators in Lahore threatened violence this week if Bibi is released.

Her ordeal began last year when Muslim women in her village near Lahore accused her of speaking ill of the prophet Muhammad. Human rights organisations have long urged a repeal of the blasphemy law, and Mr Zardari's Pakistan People's Party - whose government depends on a fragile coalition with conservative religious parties - has vowed, but done little, to prevent its abuse.

''All Pakistanis, no matter what their religion, are equal under the law,'' said Farahnaz Ispahani, a spokeswoman for Mr Zardari. ''President Zardari has followed the case of Asia Bibi closely and will take appropriate action, if necessary, to issue a pardon or grant clemency.''

Several people have been sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan, but none have been executed. Instead, rights activists and lawyers say the law is widely used to ostracise religious minorities or settle personal scores.

Though police are supposed to investigate cases, lawyers say that accusers often do little more than gather an intimidating group to lodge a claim and police make an arrest to avert an uprising.

That is what happened in Bibi's case, according to Mr Bhatti, who is a Christian. He said Bibi drew the ire of fellow farmhands after a dispute in June 2009, when they refused to drink water she collected and she refused their demands that she convert to Islam.

The women complained to a cleric, who gathered a crowd that forced her to the police station, Mr Bhatti said. He said police did not investigate and a court, without hearing her full account, handed down a death sentence four months later.

Mr Bhatti said he had concluded that Bibi, a mother of five who has been in prison for 17 months, never criticised Islam and the case against her was riddled with flaws.

People accused of blasphemy are frequently so threatened that they must leave their towns, and several convicted blasphemers have been killed in jail, said Ali Dayan Hasan, a researcher for Human Rights Watch.

''The cases that go to trial are really the tip of the iceberg,'' Mr Hasan said. ''The law creates this legal infrastructure which is then used in various informal ways to intimidate, coerce, harass and persecute.''

Bibi's husband and children were in hiding, Mr Bhatti said.

''We are frightened,'' Bibi's husband, Ashiq Masih, a brickmaker, told reporters in Islamabad on Wednesday. ''We are receiving threats, especially from clerics.''

Sahibzada Fazal Karim, the leader of the Sunni Ittehad Council, a key Muslim body, said he agreed that the law should be amended - but not towards leniency. Instead, he said, it should make blasphemy against other religious figures, such as Jesus, also punishable by death.

''Death is the only punishment for a person who commits blasphemy,'' Mr Karim said. ''If such a man or woman is set free by the President, ignoring the decision by the judiciary, it will have a ruinous effect on peace and harmony in the country.''

Source: theage.com.au, November 27, 2010

No quick pardon for Pakistani Christian

Pakistan's president will not immediately pardon a Christian woman sentenced to die for insulting Islam, but may do so later if an appeals court delays her case too long, an official said on Thursday.

The case against Asia Bibi has inflamed religious passions in Pakistan. Hard-line Muslims demonstrated again on Thursday against any pardon for her, and minority Christians held their own protests calling for abolishment of the blasphemy law, which critics say is misused by some to settle personal scores and persecute minorities.

Pope Benedict XVI has appealed for the release of Bibi, a 45-year-old mother of five who has said she was wrongly accused by a group of Muslim women with a grudge against her. The Pope said her case highlights the persecution of Pakistani Christians, who make up less than 5 per cent of the country's 175 million people.

Bibi, 45, is the 1st woman condemned to die under the blasphemy law. She has been jailed for 18 months and was sentenced November 8 to hang for insulting Islam's Prophet Mohammed.

Her lawyer has filed an appeal with the Lahore High Court, and President Asif Ali Zardari has decided to let the appeal process play out instead of immediately pardoning her, said Minister for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti, who met with Zardari on Thursday.

Pardoning Bibi would carry political risk for Zardari, whose broadly secular ruling party relies on the support of Islamist groupings in parliament.

However, the president agreed to pardon Bibi later if the appeal case is unduly delayed, said Bhatti, who delivered a report to the president on Thursday recommending Bibi be immediately freed. Zardari's spokesman could not be reached on Thursday.

Bhatti said Zardari did not specify any deadline but he believes the president "will not wait months or weeks."

About 100 Muslim demonstrators rallied on Thursday in the central city of Multan, warning against any presidential pardon for Bibi and burning an effigy of the Punjab provincial governor who has supported her appeal.

"We will resist if the government moves against the court verdict and attempts to amend the blasphemy law," warned Tariq Naeemullah, a leader of Citizen Front of Multan.

Dozens of Christians held their own protest in the southern city of Karachi, carrying a large crucifix and placards reading Down with Black Law and Stop Discrimination Against Religious Minorities.

Pakistan's higher courts have always struck down lower courts' death penalties in past blasphemy cases. Still, Bhatti said many who are falsely accused are unjustly jailed for months and often targeted by violence. 2 Christian brothers in Punjab were gunned down earlier this year as they were leaving a court hearing on a blasphemy charge.

The minorities minister acknowledges that repealing the blasphemy law is politically unfeasible but has proposed changes to it including making it a crime to falsely accuse someone, abolishing the death penalty for the crime and requiring initial cases to be heard by higher courts instead of local ones.

Source: Associated Press, November 27, 2010