Iran - Stoning Halted

Encouraging news from Iran, although I will hold my breath until it is definitively halted:

Iran's has suspended the punishment of death by stoning, state media say.

A judiciary spokesman said four people sentenced to die by stoning had had their sentences commuted and that all other cases had been put under review.

Lawyers and human rights campaigners have said at least eight women and a man are awaiting the punishment.

Stoning is the penalty for crimes such as adultery under Iranian law, but it is rarely carried out. The last such execution was reportedly last year.

Amnesty International called on Iran in January to abolish what it called a "horrific practice, designed to increase the suffering" of those condemned.

The country's penal code stipulates that before carrying out the punishment, men should be buried up to their waists and women up to their chests. The stones used must be large enough to cause the condemned pain, but not sufficient to kill immediately.

Amnesty also said a disproportionate number of those sentenced to death by stoning were women because they were not treated equally before the law and were particularly vulnerable to unfair trials.

Death Penalty For Knife Crime - Part II

Below is a copy of the email I sent to the Tory MP who gave his support for the death penalty regarding knife crime along with his reply (you may need to click the image to see it a touch clearer). Good to see that the Tories haven't changed in the slightest.

Death Penalty For Knife Crime

That's what one Tory MP proposes:

Kent MP has called for a return to the death penalty in order to deal with knife crime.

Roger Gale, the Tory MP for North Thanet, said that bringing back capital punishment for murder was the only way to deter people from carrying knives, short of banning all tools and kitchen utensils that could cause harm.

Mr Gale said: “Either ban hammers and screwdrivers and other carpenters’ tools or bring back capital punishment as the maximum available sentence for murder

“Are we seriously suggesting that Sabatier chef's knives should be banned?

“At home I have an oyster knife with a blade scarcely more than an inch long. It is potentially lethal. My wife Suzy and I also have a full range of kitchen cutlery and most of the knives have sharp points. Are we seriously suggesting that the fundamental implements of Western culinary art should be banned?

“Because if so then a panoply of carpenters and plumbers ‘weapons’ , for example, such as hammers and screwdrivers, will have to be taken out of circulation.

“I would suggest that the much more basic but practical response to the growth in armed crime is the re-introduction of capital punishment for murder.”

Ah the New Tories, same as the old Tories.

Afghanistan Heading Back to Pre-Invasion State

"Kabul has seen a wave of liberal, unwelcome influences of late. There are women dressed immodestly, prostitution can be found openly and even alcohol is available on the market. Our job is to protect the Afghan people from being exposed to this un-Islamic way of life and poor morals."

Now some people reading the above quote might think that it originated from post-Soviet Afghanistan. It sounds like the early rumblings of the Taliban regime that was to ravage the country for many years. In fact, the above quote is a little more recent. Very recent. In fact, the above quote is lifted from today's Guardian.

Despite the high ideals of bringing 'freedom and democracy' to a country that has been afflicted by wave upon wave of imperialism over the years, Afghanistan is actually turning back the clock. In recent weeks, the Afghan government has attempted to ban popular Indian soap operas and, more seriously, the high court has confirmed the death sentence of nearly 100 people. In terms of the crackdown on the media, The Guardian reports:

Last week parliament tried to stop several private TV channels from broadcasting a number of Indian soap operas. But many stations, including the popular local Tolo TV, are defying the ban. The ministry of information and culture issued a "final warning" to Tolo and Afghan TV to stop broadcasting the Indian soaps by April 29, saying that "otherwise they will be referred to the judiciary".

To make matters worse (as if that was possible), US puppet and former consultant to Unocal, President Hamad Karzai, has sided with the conservatives in this latest tussle. Far from bringing freedom and democracy to Afghanistan, Karzai seems intent on returning the country to it's previous repressive state. That the Americans seem willing to go along with this is hardly surprising. Back in October 2006, former senator Bill Frist (a Republican no less) called on the Taliban to be brought into the Afghan government. No sooner had the US proclaimed high ideals about the future of Aghanistan, than it returns the country back to it's pre-war state. For the people of Afghanistan, they have once more become the victims to the imperial ambition of others.

Bush Administration Invoke Nuremberg - I Say "Bring it On"

RickB picked this up at Ten Percent and I have never laughed so hard in all my life (at the concept, not RickB!):

The Bush administration has instructed U.S. diplomats abroad to defend its decision to seek the death penalty for six Guantanamo Bay detainees accused in the Sept. 11 terror attacks by recalling the executions of Nazi war criminals after World War II.

A four-page cable sent to U.S. embassies and obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press says that execution as punishment for extreme violations of the laws of war is internationally accepted and points to the 1945-46 International Military Tribunals as an example. Twelve of Adolf Hitler’s senior aides were sentenced to death at the trials in Nuremberg, Germany, although not all were executed in the end.

The unclassified cable was sent by the State Department to all U.S. diplomatic missions worldwide late on Monday. [Taken from Yahoo!]

Ok, why so funny? Ok, well one of the major principles of the Nuremberg trials was as follows:

Principle Vl

The crimes hereinafter set out are punishable as crimes under; international law:

a) Crimes against peace:

i) Planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances;
ii) Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the acts mentioned under (i).

b) War crimes:

Violations of the laws or customs of war which include, but are not limited to, murder, ill-treatment or deportation to slave-labor or for any other purpose of civilian population of or in occupied territory, murder or illtreatment of prisoners of war, of persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns, or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity.

c) Crimes against humanity:

Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and other inhuman acts done against any civilian population, or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds, when such acts are done or such persecutions are carried on in execution of or in connection with any crime against peace or any war crime.

If the Nuremberg trials are suddenly the basis of how international criminals are prosecuted, the underlined sections make a very compelling case for Bush and Blair to stand trial for war crimes. Note from part (a), there are no exceptions and no examples when such action is justified. As such, the war in Iraq was a 'war of aggression'. You cannot have it both ways. You cannot apply the principles of the Nuremberg trials when you see fit. It either applies to all, or it does not. By using the justification of the Nuremberg trials as reason enough to execute those 'convicted', the Bush administration is also providing us with the rope from which to hang them. So yes, I accept this justification, provided you really accept every principle outlined in the Nuremberg trials. Otherwise, you might start to look like a hypocrite.

I was always taught at uni never to end with a quote, but bollocks to that I'm going to. This is what chief U.S. Prosecutor, Robert Jackson, said when he addressed the Nuremberg tribunal:

“.....we should remember that we’re handing these Nazi war criminals a poisoned chalice. If we ever sip from it we must be subject to the same principles or else the whole thing is a farce.”

How to Create A Martyr.....

Step 1:

The Pentagon has announced charges against six Guantanamo Bay prisoners over their alleged involvement in the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US.

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the six, who include alleged plot mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Yeah, cos that'll really put an end to terrorism won't it?

BBC - Let's Make the Death Penalty Humane

I had to switch off what is perhaps one of the most absurd/offensive pieces of television I have ever seen on the BBC. Next time you hear some frothy mouthed loony claim that the BBC is part of some liberal conspiracy, remind them of this little programme. Effectively, Michael Portillo seeks out a humane method of execution. Yes, you read that right, a humane method. The programme's central premise does not revolve around how the use of the death penalty is inhuman, rather how we can make execution more humane. This strikes me as a rather bizarre concept to say the least. There is no humane method of execution as execution is, by definition, inhuman. The BBC's own website reinforces the programme's central argument:

Former British MP Michael Portillo has talked to Outlook about a programme he has made for BBC television on the death penalty.

Portillo agreed to undertake 'near-death' experiments in order to ascertain which is the most humane form of execution.

Any programme that starts from that perspective is deeply concerning. Portillo himself says:

"I hoped that there might be common ground in looking for a humane, painless way to do it."

How about looking for common ground on banning this obscene practice full stop, rather than looking for a nice way to do it? Besides, as I said above, the terms 'humane' and 'execution' do not even belong in the same breath. Quite frankly, I find it deeply offensive to find a programme on the BBC that suggests that execution is acceptable and we just need to seek out a 'humane' way of doing it.

The BBC - supporting the executioner.

Lethal Injections Examined by Supreme Court

A rare ray of light from the US:

The use of a cocktail of drugs to execute prisoners came under examination by the US supreme court yesterday, in a case that could determine the future of the practice.

Executions by lethal injection have been on hold since September in the three dozen states that use the method, pending the hearing in a case that challenges the state of Kentucky's use of a three-drug cocktail which is supposed to knock out, paralyse and then kill.

The legal challenge, brought by two college students, argues that the method is inhumane and that life in prison is an appropriate alternative. "You have the right to die with dignity," said Gira Joshi, one of the two students.

Five prominent veterinarians have testified that the method used in Kentucky does not meet the state's minimum standards for putting down animals.

Below the standards applied to animals. How long before the barbaric death penalty is abolished once and for all. Until it is, the US will remain isolated from the civilised world.

The Big Story In America? Well, Baseball Of Course!

Quite frankly, a bizarre front page on the BBC Americas page:


Yes, 'Bush hopes for new baseball era' - an earth shattering story I'm sure you will agree. One wonders why any of the following alternatives weren't chosen (all from the Americas pages on the BBC):

US House limits CIA interrogation

The US House of Representatives has approved a bill that would ban the CIA from using harsh interrogation techniques such as simulated drowning.

The measure would require intelligence agencies to follow the rules adopted by the US Army, which forbid such methods, and to abide by the Geneva Conventions.

President George Bush has threatened to veto the bill if the Senate passes it.

The move came a day after the CIA's director was questioned about the wiping of videotaped interrogations.

Gen Michael Hayden told a congressional intelligence committee that he had no prior knowledge of plans to destroy the tapes and that his organisation "could have done an awful lot better" in keeping Congress informed on the issue.

US Iraq fraud office investigated

The office which investigates cases of waste and fraud surrounding reconstruction efforts in Iraq is being investigated itself, reports say.

Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, and his team are the focus of four probes, among them one by the FBI, US media reports.

His office has been accused of waste and overspending, allegations now being presented to a US grand jury.

New Jersey scraps death penalty

Lawmakers in the US state of New Jersey have approved a bill abolishing the death penalty.

In a 44-36 vote, the Democrat-run state assembly replaced the death sentence with life in prison without parole.

The bill is expected to be signed into law by Democratic Governor Jon Corzine - an opponent of the death penalty.

The move would make New Jersey the first US state to abolish capital punishment since the US Supreme Court reinstated executions in 1976.

And there's even the news that America is desperately trying to undermine the conference in Bali. Still, I guess all these things aren't as important as baseball, right?

Rwanda Abolishes Death Penalty

Time for some good news, from Amnesty International:

Rwanda has become the latest country to abolish the death penalty, accelerating the worldwide trend towards ending capital punishment.

It is the first country in Africa's Great Lakes region to call a halt to executions and the 100th country worldwide to abolish the death penalty in law. Another 30 countries are abolitionist in practice. Fourteen countries in Africa, including Rwanda, are now abolitionist for all crimes and a further 18 are abolitionist in practice.

It is hoped that Rwanda's move will spark a pattern towards abolishing the death penalty in Central Africa. There are encouraging signs from Burundi, where a revised version of the Penal Code, currently pending promulgation, has excluded the death penalty as punishment for all crimes.

The last death sentences were imposed in Rwanda in 2003. The last executions took place in 1998, when 22 people found guilty of genocide-related crimes were executed. Rwanda currently holds approximately 600 prisoners on death row, whose sentences are being commuted following this legislation.

More and more countries are entering the civilised world. If only the world's more powerful nation would join us.

Saudi Arabia - A Valuable Ally in the Middle East

Is it possible to tell the difference between our friends and our enemies in the Middle East? Surely, as such a valuable friend, Saudi Arabia would be worthy of our support? Remember, the American administration is prepared to offer huge sums of military aid to this country. An administration that wants to end tyranny in the region. An administration that claimed that Saddam needed to be dealt with due to his poor huamn rights record. An administration that overlooks crimes such as this:

The New York based Human Rights Watch demanded that the Appeals Court investigating into the death sentence of the Sri Lankan maid Rizana Nafeek should consider not only the fact that the alleged crime occurred at a time when she was a child of 17 but also the fairness of the original investigation into the allegations against her .


“This case raises many troubling questions about the treatment of children and foreigners in Saudi Arabia’s criminal justice system,” said Nisha Varia, senior researcher in the Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch in a statement issued July 30 in New York.


The human rights organization demanded that for those who cannot afford lawyers the Saudi Arabian government should start providing lawyers in criminal cases like in other countries.

The Human Rights group was commenting on last month‘s verdict, on a Shari’a court in Dawadmi, Saudi Arabia, that sentenced to death Nafeek, 19, ruling that she had murdered an infant in her care in 2005. The Sri Lanka embassy on behalf of Nafeek filed an appeal last week opposing the sentence. “International law prohibits the death penalty for crimes committed before the age of 18”, the statement said.

Former Head of China's State Food and Drug Administration Executed

Truly shocking news from China:

The former head of China's State Food and Drug Administration, Zheng Xiaoyu, has been executed for corruption, the state-run Xinhua news agency reports.

He was convicted of taking 6.5m yuan ($850,000; £425,400) in bribes and of dereliction of duty at a trial in May.

The bribes were linked to sub-standard medicines, blamed for several deaths.

China has been criticised over a number of recent cases involving tainted goods, and correspondents say Zheng had become a symbol of the crisis.

While I am utterly opposed to his actions (assuming that he was actually guilty), the death penalty is never justified. The severity of the punishment goes way beyond the severity of the crime. If China is so concerned about how it is viewed by the world in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics, perhaps it could do something about its disgraceful human rights record.

Musharraf Clamps Down on Media - And The Establishment Goes Quiet

Remember the furore over the refusal to renew RCTV's broadcasting licence? Even the BBC joined in the chorus of disapproving voices, even going so far as to claim that Venezuela was under 'militant rule' (before a cunning piece of stealth editing). Well, something similar has happened again, only this time it is by one of 'our' allies. Interestingly, there has not been a word of comment by many of those keen to jump on the Chavez as totalitarian rhetoric so beloved of Bush.

Over the week-end, President Musharraf gave us a glimpse of his totalitarian tendencies. As a result of the growing political storm in Pakistan, with calls for a return to democracy growing ever louder, Musharraf gave the order to take Geo TV off the air for promoting an "anti-state attitude" and casting "aspersions against the judiciary and the integrity of the armed forces". Geo TV was taken off the air shortly after an interview with Imran Khan on its flagship news programme, watched by around 30 million people. According to the president of the station:

"We had an interview with Imran Khan followed by a discussion about the military in politics. Suddenly it all went blank."

As well as the suspension, legislation has been introduced that provides for fines of up to £85,000 and the suspension of a station's licence.

This is not the first time that Geo TV has been attacked by the government. Back in March, Musharraf banned "The Kamran Kahn Show" due to its coverage of the dispute with a suspended Supreme Court judge. The station's offices were also raided by the police after broadcasting footage of them firing rubber bullets into a crowd of protesters. The bureau chief at the time is reported as stating that:

"Police have attacked our office, they are breaking windows. They are beating our staff. They have used tear gas shells. Even our female staff have been hurt. They are damaging our building."

And yet, silence from the very people who claim to stand for freedom of speech. Not even the BBC, so quick to criticise Chavez, have made any comment on this attack on the free press. Bush, unsurprisingly, failed to take the opportunity to remind Pakistan of its democratic responsibilities. According to the BBC:

Mr Bush also called for the "immediate and unconditional release" of dissidents in such nations as Belarus, Burma and Cuba.

He listed these nations, along with North Korea, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Iran and Syria as the "worst dictatorships" and criticised Venezuela, Uzbekistan and Vietnam for rolling back earlier "freedom".

Venezuela, but not Pakistan. Chavez refused to renew a license due to the failure to observe basic broadcasting laws. Musharraf has sent the police in to raid a TV station and has repeatedly taken it off the air. RCTV backed a coup in Venezuela. Geo TV is calling for a return to democracy. The differences are obvious and stark. And yet, nothing. Still, I guess that should be no surprise when the mainstream media describes an ideological opponent of Bush 'militant', whilst they gloss over the totalitarian tendencies of a close friend and ally. Once again, the establishment clubs together to protect one of their own.

Further info: Opinion piece by Geo TV's Group Executive Director

* In other Pakistan related news, via the BBC:

A woman and three men were shot dead in a public execution in a Pakistani village after tribal elders found them guilty of adultery, officials said.

Reports said the executions were watched by some 600 people.

Looks like Pakistan has long way to go before it is truly a democratic state worthy of friendship.

Grazie l'Italia

An Italian judge has ordered 26 US citizens - most of them CIA agents - to stand trial over the kidnap of an Egyptian cleric in Milan in 2003.

The case would be the first criminal trial over the secret US practice known as "extraordinary rendition". [from the BBC]

Once again, the Italians surpass themselves. First came their protest over the death penalty, and now this. All I can say is:

Grazie l'Italia