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NPR...
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Texas Prisons End Special Last Meals In Executions
by The Associated Press
September 22, 2011
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Texas inmates who are set to be executed will no longer get their choice of last meals, a change prison officials made Thursday after a prominent state senator became miffed over an expansive request from a man condemned for a notorious dragging death.
Lawrence Russell Brewer, who was executed Wednesday for the hate crime slaying of James Byrd Jr. more than a decade ago, asked for two chicken fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, fried okra, a pound of barbecue, three fajitas, a meat lover's pizza, a pint of ice cream and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts. Prison officials said Brewer didn't eat any of it.
"It is extremely inappropriate to give a person sentenced to death such a privilege," Sen. John Whitmire, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, wrote in a letter Thursday to Brad Livingston, the executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Within hours, Livingston said the senator's concerns were valid and the practice of allowing death row offenders to choose their final meal was history.
"Effective immediately, no such accommodations will be made," Livingston said. "They will receive the same meal served to other offenders on the unit."
That had been the suggestion from Whitmire, who called the traditional request "ridiculous."
"It's long overdue," the Houston Democrat told The Associated Press. "This old boy last night, enough is enough. We're fixing to execute the guy and maybe it makes the system feel good about what they're fixing to do. Kind of hypocritical, you reckon?
"Mr. Byrd didn't get to choose his last meal. The whole deal is so illogical."
Brewer, a white supremacist gang member, was convicted of chaining Byrd, 49, to the back of a pickup truck and dragging him to his death along a bumpy road in a case shocked the nation for its brutality.
Whitmire warned in his letter that if the "last meal of choice" practice wasn't stopped immediately, he'd seek a state statute to end it when lawmakers convene in the next legislative session.
It was not immediately clear whether other states have made similar moves. Some limit the final meal cost: Florida's ceiling is $40, according to the Department of Corrections website, with food to be purchased locally.
Others, like Texas, which never had a designated dollar limit, mandate meals be prison-made. Some states don't acknowledge final meals, and others will disclose the information only if the inmate agrees, said K. William Hayes, a Florida-based death penalty historian.
Some states require the meal within a specific time period, allow multiple "final" meals, restrict it to one or impose "a vast number of conditions," he said.
Historical references to a condemned person's last meal go as far back as ancient Greece, China and Rome, Hayes said. Some of it is apparently rooted in superstition about meals warding off possible haunting by condemned people once they are put to death.
The Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington-based anti-capital punishment organization that collects execution statistics, said it had no data on final meals.
Since Texas resumed carrying out executions in 1982, the state correction agency's practice has been to fill a condemned inmate's request as long as the items, or food similar to what was requested, were readily available from the prison kitchen supplies.
While extensive, Brewer's request was far from the largest or most bizarre among the 475 Texas inmates put to death.
On Tuesday, prisoner Cleve Foster's request included two fried chickens, French fries and a five-gallon (19-liter) bucket of peaches. He received a reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court but none of his requested meal. He was on his way back to death row, at a prison about 45 miles east of Huntsville, at the time when his feast would have been served.
Last week, inmate Steven Woods' request included two pounds of bacon, a large four-meat pizza, four fried chicken breasts, two drinks each of Mountain Dew, Pepsi, root beer and sweet tea, two pints of ice cream, five chicken fried steaks, two hamburgers with bacon, fries and a dozen garlic bread sticks with marinara on the side. Two hours later, he was executed.
Years ago, a Texas inmate even requested dirt for his final meal.
Until 2003, the Texas prison system listed final meals of each prisoner as part of its death row website. That stopped at 313 final meals after officials said they received complaints from people who found it offensive.
A former inmate cook who made the last meals for prisoners at the Huntsville Unit, where Texas executions are carried out, wrote a cookbook several years ago after he was released. Among his recipes were Gallows Gravy, Rice Rigor Mortis and Old Sparky's Genuine Convict Chili, a nod to the electric chair that once served as the execution method. The book was called "Meals to Die For."
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NPR...
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Texas Prisons End Special Last Meals In Executions
by The... more
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http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/21/justice/georgia-execution/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
CNN...
Troy Davis put to death in Georgia
By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 11:56 PM EST, Wed September 21, 2011
Davis case to become global 'scandal'
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Inmate tells victim's family he was not guilty
Troy Davis put to death late Wednesday
U.S. Supreme Court denied stay of execution
The original prosecutor says the facts support Troy Davis' sentence
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PART ONE...
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Jackson, Georgia (CNN) -- Troy Davis, whose case drew international attention, was put to death by lethal injection for the 1989 killing of an off-duty police officer in Savannah, Georgia, prison officials announced Wednesday night.
Davis was defiant to the very end. After he was strapped to the death gurney, he lifted his head to address the family of the slain officer.
He told the family of Mark MacPhail that he was not responsible for the officer's death and did not have a gun at the time, according to execution witnesses.
Davis said the case merited further investigation, talking fast as officials prepared to give him the lethal cocktail.
The execution followed the U.S. Supreme Court's rejection of a stay, allowing the state to proceed. Davis was declared dead at 11:08 p.m. ET.
Throughout the day, Davis' lawyers and high-profile supporters had asked the state and various courts to intervene, arguing he did not murder MacPhail in 1989.
Davis initially had been scheduled to die by lethal injection at 7 p.m. ET. But the proceeding was delayed more than three hours as the justices pondered a plea filed by his attorney.
Several hundred people, most of them opposing the proceeding, gathered outside the state prison in Jackson where Davis, 42, awaited his fate. Others held a vigil in a nearby church.
The inmate's sister, Martina Davis-Correia, was among those who held a vigil outside the prison. Before the U.S. Supreme Court's decision, she said officials needed to take more time to examine the case. "When you are looking at someone's life, you can't press rewind."
More than 100 officers, many in riot gear, stood guard over the largely-quiet gathering, which featured candles, occasional prayers and songs. At least three people who crossed the street had been taken away in handcuffs.
"Tonight the state of Georgia legally lynched an innocent man," Davis' lawyer Thomas Ruffin Jr. said. "Tonight I witnessed something tragic."
Davis' supporters, who also rallied outside the U.S. Supreme Court building, argued that his conviction was based on the testimony of numerous witnesses who had recanted, including a jailhouse informer who claimed Davis had confessed.
"There's a genuine feeling among people here and across the nation that we're about to do the unthinkable," said Isaac Newton Farris Jr., president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
But prosecutors have stood by the conviction, and every appeal -- including the last-minute petitions filed Wednesday -- has failed.
Davis's supporters cheered and hugged each other when news of the earlier delay reached them. But it did not sit well with McPhail's mother, who remained at home.
CONTINUED...
.http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/21/justice/georgia-execution/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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Los Angeles Times...
San Quentin State Prison's new warden wants to recruit a new execution team, prompting the corrections department to say more time will be needed before a federal judge can review revised lethal injection procedures.
PHOTO: The development comes on the heels of Gov. Jerry Brown's decision last week to scrap construction of a new $356-million death row facility at San Quentin State Prison. (Eric Risberg / Associated Press)
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By Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times
May 3, 2011, 7:25 p.m.
California officials have backed off a drive to resume executions this year, asking a federal judge to delay until at least January his review of revised lethal injection procedures.
The delay means that the state will have gone at least six years without executing any condemned prisoners, who now number 713.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation requested more time because San Quentin State Prison's new warden, Michael Martel, wants to recruit a new execution team to replace the one that was assembled and trained last year, according to court documents.
U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel expressed frustration that the state has taken so long to fix lethal injection procedures, which he concluded might have subjected inmates to intense pain in violation of the Constitution's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. He made that ruling in December 2006 after putting executions on hold 10 months earlier.
"When the public looks at this and they say, 'Well, why aren't there any executions?' all they know is that it's taking five years to get to closure in this case," Fogel told attorneys for the state and the prisoners, according to a court transcript made public this week.
The development comes on the heels of Gov. Jerry Brown's decision last week to scrap construction of a new $356-million death row facility. California faces another potential roadblock from looming legal challenges to the state's acquisition of sodium thiopental, the key execution drug, which is no longer made in the U.S. and has to be obtained from foreign producers.
Lawyers for the state said it was not feasible to schedule executions this year, according to a transcript of the meeting with Fogel in his chambers Friday. Given the time it will take to put together a new execution team, train the 20-plus members and provide documentation of their qualifications to lawyers for condemned inmates, the execution procedures won't be ready for review and potential approval until at least January, the judge noted.
Corrections officials have declined to say why Martel wants to change the execution team that was deemed ready in September, when the state was prepared to execute rapist-murderer Albert Greenwood Brown. The execution was called off at the last minute because Fogel had not yet assessed whether revisions to the lethal injection procedure fully addressed his concerns about their meeting constitutional standards.
San Quentin public information officer Sam Robinson said he wasn't authorized to comment when asked what prompted Martel to undertake the time-consuming replacement of the execution team.
"He's the warden. It's his choice," said Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the corrections department.
Although other death penalty states have scaled back the number of capital charges sought in murder trials, partly out of concern for the soaring costs of maintaining capital punishment, California has bucked the national trend and continued adding to its teeming death row, the nation's largest, experts said.
Kent Scheidegger, legal director for the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, which supports capital punishment, said his organization wasn't opposed to the decision to spare California the expense of a new condemned inmate facility but expressed impatience with the persistent legal maneuverings blocking executions.
"What is needed is political leadership" to invoke the will of the people in carrying out the death sentences already issued, Scheidegger said, suggesting a lack of enthusiasm for capital punishment in the state government hierarchy.
Brown and Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris have both said they are personally opposed to the death penalty but would respect the public's majority support for the sentencing option.
David Senior, an attorney for death row inmate Michael A. Morales, said the latest developments in the state's execution plans reflect a more cautious approach in the exercise of capital punishment by Brown's administration, compared to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who vigorously pushed for resuming executions.
Fogel also asked lawyers for death row inmates who have exhausted their appeals whether they expected further delays due to concerns about the origin and effectiveness of sodium thiopental.
The attorneys said they hadn't yet formally challenged the state on the drugs issue but indicated it might be part of their appeals strategy later.
California has executed 13 men since capital punishment was reinstated in 1978, compared with 78 deaths during that time from natural causes, suicide or inmate-on-inmate violence.
Twenty-nine of those deaths have occurred since the last execution, that of Clarence Ray Allen in January 2006.
UC Santa Cruz professor Craig Haney, who has tracked public attitudes about the death penalty for 30 years, said Brown's decision to scuttle new death row construction and the corrections department's slowed efforts to resume executions are "examples of the increasing signs that the death penalty's days are numbered in the United States."
"I can't say that it will be next week or next month or next year, but the trends have now become too unmistakably clear to ignore," said Haney, who deems the death penalty economically wasteful and vulnerable to error.
He said he doubted that Brown has any "grand design" to commute California death sentences to life without the possibility of parole but might be on a path to preparing voters for an inevitable move in that direction.Los Angeles Times...
San Quentin State Prison's new warden wants to recruit a... more
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If you are going to sell cannabis, please do it somewhere besides Malaysia. Three people, including one couple, were sentenced on Thursday to death by hanging by the high court at Temerloh, Malaysia for trafficking 4.5 kilograms (just under 10 pounds) of marijuana last year.
"Death by hanging is the only sentence provided for offenses under Section 39B (1) of the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1952," said Judicial Commissioner Datuk Akhtar Tahir, reports Bernama, the official Malaysian national news agency.
Tahir said the prosecution had proven a prima facie case against Ahmad Mukamal Abdul Wahab, 37; Suhana Kamarudin, 28; and her husband Shawal Hashim, 37.
Ahmad Mukamal and Shawal reportedly shook their heads when the sentence was announced.
"I am not guilty," Suhana shouted from the dock. "I have a child and had promised to return," the young mother said.
The three were charged with selling marijuana near a McDonald's restaurant at Genting Sempah at 12:30 a.m. on March 9, 2010.
Police stopped the vehicle in which they were traveling and seized the slabs of marijuana totaling 4.5 kilos.
Deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Najmi Daud prosecuted the case. Counsel Zulkafli Abd Hamid defended Ahmad Mukamal and Shawal, while Ahmad Nizam Hamid defended Suhana.
http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2011/02/malaysia_3_sentenced_to_hang_for_selling_pot_at_mc.phpIf you are going to sell cannabis, please do it somewhere besides Malaysia. Three... more
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As the U.S. Department of Justice considers charging WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange under the Espionage Act of 1917, we speak with Robert Meeropol, the son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg—the only U.S. citizens to be executed under the Espionage Act, in what’s been described as the most controversial death sentence in U.S. history. This week, Meeropol released a widely read statement in support of WikiLeaks called, "My Parents Were Executed Under the Unconstitutional Espionage Act—Here’s Why We Must Fight to Protect Julian Assange." [includes rush transcript]
Video at the link........
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/30/son_of_julius_and_ethel_rosenberg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjMdohSQifAAs the U.S. Department of Justice considers charging WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange... more
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What is not just a moral debate but also a legal one, there is news that a UK company supplied the drug used in executions in the US. With no death penalties in the UK, a civil rights lawyer is stating a company in the UK should not profit from the sale of drugs used.
""One question that immediately springs to mind is whether it is criminal for the British corporation to profit from such a killing: while the language is loose, EU Council Regulation 1236/2005 takes a step along this path, making it illegal to trade in certain goods which could be used for capital punishment, torture, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment...'"-BBC
The drug was brought due to a shortage in the US, with the courts stating it came from the UK to show the drug came from a 'reputable place', however the company was not named.
[Update] Amnesty International has made it known the drug was being supplied for the death of Jeffrey Landrigan, which they state the Judge in the case said the judgement for the death penalty was wrong. http://blog.amnestyusa.org/deathpenalty/arizona-ignores-trial-judge-kills-prisoner/
"That’s what former judge Cheryl Hendrix told Arizona’s Board of Executive Clemency in support of Jeffrey Landrigan’s effort to have his death sentence commuted. What’s important about judge Hendrix is that she is the one who sentenced him to death. New information that Landrigan’s lawyer failed to present at the trial convinced her that the death sentence she issued had been wrong.
Unfortunately, the US Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote, had already ruled that this new information would NOT have made a difference. That turned out to be flat wrong, but an erroneous Supreme Court ruling that still trumps everything else. The Arizona Board split 2-2 vote, but that, and Governor Jan Brewer, was enough to keep the execution process rolling. "-AIWhat is not just a moral debate but also a legal one, there is news that a UK company... more
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CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom looks at the case of an Iranian mother who is to be stoned to death after an adultery conviction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyZS-G-dm6ECNN's Mohammed Jamjoom looks at the case of an Iranian mother who is to be stoned... more
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The film explores experiences of death row and the death penalty in South Korea during the years of political upheaval before democracy. The film contains extracts from an interview with Kim Dae-jung, former president of South Korea who died in August of 2009. Kim Dae-jung was sentenced to death during the struggle for democracy and went on to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and to become President of South Korea. The film includes other testimonies from political prisoners Kim Song-man and Yoo In-tae, and interestingly from Bok Ki-man who was a prison guard tasked with guarding Kim Dae-jung during his time on death row. The film focuses on the emotions of being a condemned man as well as the impact that the death penalty has on those tasked with carrying it out. The film was shot in 2009. The archive images used are from the Kim Dae-jung national library in South Korea.The film explores experiences of death row and the death penalty in South Korea during... more
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An American man described by a judge as "a savage beast" and "the face of evil" has been convicted of murder after killing his girlfriend when she wouldn't assist him in disposing of the body of his previous girlfriend, who he had also murdered.
28-year-old Santiago Martinez has been sentenced to die by lethal injection after jurors took only 30 minutes to decide his fate.
http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-girlfriend-killer,0,4410755.storyAn American man described by a judge as "a savage beast" and "the face... more
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A TV presenter is on death row in Saudi Arabia, accused of witchcraft.
Ali Sibat, a Lebanese citizen, was visiting Saudi Arabia on pilgrimage when he was arrested in Medina last year.
It's reported that the only evidence offered in court for Sibat being a witch was his appearances on Lebanese television in which he apparently made predictions about the future.
Human rights campaigners have strongly spoken out against the sentence.
"Saudi courts are sanctioning a literal witch hunt by the religious police," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.
"The crime of witchcraft is being used against all sorts of behavior, with the cruel threat of state sanctioned executions."
We've had no word back yet from Derek Acorah's people on whether he has a trip to Saudi Arabia planned any time soon.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Saudi-Arabia-Ali-Sibat-Sentenced-To-Death-For-Witchcraft-Over-TV-Predictions/Article/200911415466364?f=rssA TV presenter is on death row in Saudi Arabia, accused of witchcraft.
Ali Sibat,... more
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MOBILE, Ala. - A judge ordered a death sentence Thursday for a jobless shrimper convicted of murdering four young children by tossing them from an 80-foot-high bridge on the Alabama coast.
Circuit Judge Charles Graddick handed down the death sentence to Lam Luong and said he would order prison officials to show Luong photographs of the four children each day he is on death row.
Luong, 38, was convicted in March of killing the children on Jan. 7, 2008. A Vietnamese refugee, he was accused of dropping the four from atop the Dauphin Island Bridge after an argument with their mother, Kieu Phan, 23.Luong, who was Phan's common-law husband, fathered three of the victims — Hannah Luong, 2; Lindsey Luong, 1; and Danny Luong, 4 months. Ryan Phan, 3, was Phan's child with another man.
At his sentencing, Luong looked toward his wife and, through an interpreter, apologized.
His attorneys urged Judge Graddick to sentence Luong to life in prison without parole, the only alternative to the death sentence under his capital murder conviction. They said he was addicted to drugs and depressed.
But Graddick said the aggravating circumstances were too great. He said the children, during their fall from the bridge, must have felt "sheer terror" and were alive when they hit the water.
The jury that convicted Luong last month also recommended the death sentence.MOBILE, Ala. - A judge ordered a death sentence Thursday for a jobless shrimper... more
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Troy Davis, a black American who has spent 17 years on death row for the murder of a white policeman, was today granted a stay of execution, three days before he was due to be put to death, court documents showed.
“Upon our thorough review of the record, we conclude that Davis has met the burden for a provisional stay of execution,” said the decision taken by three judges sitting on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in the southern state of Georgia.
Davis, 40, was scheduled to die on Monday at 7pm (10am AEDT) by lethal injection for the 1989 killing of 27-year-old white policeman Mark Allan MacPhail in Savannah, Georgia.
He has repeatedly claimed he did not kill McPhail and seven out of nine witnesses who gave evidence at his trial in 1991 have recanted or changed their testimony, which was the backbone of the prosecution's case in the absence of a murder weapon, fingerprints and DNA.
Other witnesses have since identified another man as the shooter – a state's witness who testified against Davis.
The appeals court today gave Davis's lawyers 15 days to file documents with the court, supporting defence claims that Davis is being wrongfully held in prison.
The court will then have 10 days to decide if the case of the long-time death row inmate should go back before a lower court, which could order a new trial.
The stay of execution “means there will be more litigation, but not necessarily a new trial”, which Davis, his lawyers and supporters have been pressing for, Sara Totonchi, head of Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said.
The stay announced today was the third for Davis, who was originally sentenced to die in July last year, only to be granted a last-minute stay of execution then by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole.
Last month, the same parole board denied Davis clemency, putting him back on the path to execution.
Then, with less than two hours to go before he was due to die on September 23, the US Supreme Court granted him his second stay of execution.
“I can't imagine the emotional roller coaster Troy Davis is going through,” Totonchi, who is also head of Davis' support committee, said today.
Davis' case has triggered an international outcry as well as support rallies and petitions in Georgia.
A petition signed by 140,000 people was delivered to the Georgia parole board today, hours before the stay of execution was announced.
The French presidency of the European Union, whose 27 member states oppose the use of capital punishment anywhere in the world, appealed Wednesday for Davis's death sentence to be commuted.
Former US president Jimmy Carter, Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu of South Africa and Pope Benedict XVI have also spoken out against the execution.
Rights group Amnesty International hailed the decision to grant Davis yet another stay of execution, but slammed the US judicial system for overlooking issues that could prove the inmate's innocence.
“Until this point, the compelling issues in this case have been virtually ignored, leaving Georgia vulnerable to the possibility of killing an innocent man,” Amnesty International USA said in a statement.
Last month, Amnesty accused the state of Georgia of “trying to ram through” Davis's execution.Troy Davis, a black American who has spent 17 years on death row for the murder of a... more
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A former Beijing official who oversaw citywide construction projects for this year’s Olympic Games has been given a suspended death sentence for corruption in a case that involved bribery and lavish living, state news outlets reported on Sunday.A former Beijing official who oversaw citywide construction projects for this... more
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Sudan has sentenced eight Darfur fighters, including a senior member of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), to death for their involvement in an attack on Khartoum, Sudan's capital.
The court ruling on Sunday brings to 38 the number of people condemned to hang over the unprecedented attack in which more than 222 people were killed.
Among those sentenced was Abdel Aziz el-Nur Ashr, the half-brother of Khalil Ibrahim, the JEM leader.
"The court is sentencing all eight accused to death by hanging," said Mudathir Rashid Sidahmed, the presiding judge.
The accused and relatives - who were barred from attending the hearing - broke into shouts of death to the government after the sentences were read, a reporter for the AFP news agency said.
Darfuri women at the court protested outside the courtroom but were escorted away by police.
The accused have one week to appeal before Omar Hassan al-Bashir, Sudan's president, signs the execution order.
The UN has voiced concern that the courts do not meet international standards and urged the appeals court to review the sentences.
The attack on Khartoum in May was the first time an armed group had brought their fight to the capital.
The fighters were stopped at bridges over the Nile, a few kilometres from the presidential palace and army headquarters.Sudan has sentenced eight Darfur fighters, including a senior member of the Justice... more
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Syrian Jojo Jako Yakob, 20, has been refused permission to stay in Scotland and was told he is likely to be safe in his homophobic country of origin if he behaves "discreetly".
Yakob suffered horrific abuse because of his sexual orientation and political activities in Syria. Having been arrested for distributing 'anti-government' leaflets, his treatment worsened once Syrian police officials and prison guards found out that he was homosexual. As a result, he was shot and beaten so badly that he fell into a coma for twenty days.
In 2006, Yakob fled to the UK in a lorry. He attempted to start a new life in Scotland, but last March, the Home Office ordered his deportation. Last week, his appeal against the decision was denied even though the immigration tribunal accepts that Yakob is gay and that Syria criminalises and represses homosexuality.
Even though campaigners and lawyers are convinced that Yakob's life will be in serious danger if he has to return to Syria, the tribunal suggests that he is unlikely to be harmed as long as he keeps his sexuality hidden. The ruling by the Asylum Immigration Tribunal, sitting in Glasgow, states: "Syria criminalises and represses homosexuality. Homosexuals have to modify their behaviour and lifestyle accordingly."
Gay rights campaigners are outraged at the judgment. According to Peter Tatchell, a gay rights activist, "this young man's life will be in danger if he is deported. It's outrageous that our Government is showing such a callous disregard for human rights.
Yakob says he now fears for his life: "I am very afraid of being sent home," he said. "I am afraid for my life. But I will do my best to win my case and stay in Scotland. I want to stay here, but I can't do anything until I am allowed to stay. I can't get a job, I can't do my computer training – my life is on hold."
Yakob's lawyers are currently planning a last court bid to stop his deportation.
Syrian Jojo Jako Yakob, 20, has been refused permission to stay in Scotland and was... more
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The US Supreme Court has struck down a law that would have allowed the execution of someone convicted of raping a child.
The court said the Louisiana law would have violated the US constitution's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment".
"The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child," wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy in his majority opinion.
The justices voted 5-4 in favour of striking down the law.
The ruling means that a Louisiana man convicted of raping his stepdaughter in 1998 will not now face the death penalty.
'National consensus'
The US Supreme Court struck down a law allowing the death penalty in cases of adult rape in 1977, but five states still allowed execution when a child rape had been committed.
Citing the 45 states who had imposed bans on execution for child rape, Justice Kennedy wrote in his opinion that "there is a national consensus against capital punishment for the crime of child rape".
Writing on behalf of the minority of justices who opposed the decision, Justice Samuel Alito said: "The harm that is caused to the victims and to society at large by the worst child rapists is grave.
"It is the judgment of the Louisiana lawmakers and those in an increasing number of other states that these harms justify the death penalty." The US Supreme Court has struck down a law that would have allowed the execution of... more
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Brain cancer "used to be considered a death sentence, and it's not anymore," says Thomas Sedowski, one of dozens of survivors sharing experiences on iReport.com. With his diagnosis, Sedowski entered the complicated world of cancer, just as Sen. Ted Kennedy has.Brain cancer "used to be considered a death sentence, and it's not... more
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20 Lawyers in Texas have filed suit against a judge who they say ordered a court to close on time...which prevented an inmate's lawyers from being able to file their appeal...and he was executed by lethal injection that night.
"On September 25, 49-year-old Michael Richard was scheduled to be executed at 6:00 PM by lethal injection for the rape and murder of Marguerite Dixon in 1986. Less than 24 hours before his scheduled execution, the Supreme Court agreed to accept a case challenging the Constitutionality of lethal injections.
"On the heels of this decision, Richard's defense attorneys worked quickly to file a last-minute appeal. They were seeking a stay of execution for him.
"According to AFP, the lawyers had typed up their appeal but had problems printing it out because of a computer glitch. Texas policy does not allow appeals to be filed electronically. At 4:50 PM, the lawyers called the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, asking for an additional 20 minutes to file the appeal.
"The court clerk plainly responded, 'We close at 5:00.'"20 Lawyers in Texas have filed suit against a judge who they say ordered a court to... more
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