Iran: Concurrent With Admission of Group Executions, 26 More Hanged Secretly in Mashad

Local sources in Mashad told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that 26 more inmates were hanged at Vakilabad Prison on 15 June 2011. At the same time, the Prosecutor of Mashad Mahmoud Zoghi admitted to secret group executions and without mentioning the number of executions over the past 2 1/2 years, referred to “the high number of executions."

Zoghi acknowledged group executions while reporting the large number of drug trafficking cases in Vakilabad prison.

“With such a high volume of drug trafficking cases, the execution statistics are proportionate and foreign media unjustifiably exaggerate in this subject,” Zoghisaid.

The secret group executions were carried out against Iran’s laws, without the knowledge or presence of lawyers and family members of the prisoners. Neither the prisoners or their lawyers were served requisite papers from the Supreme Court upholding their death sentences. The prisoners were not informed in advance about the final confirmation or date of their executions and were only informed hours before they were executed.

According to information obtained by the Campaign, in these cases, the “execution sentence confirmation notices” from the Supreme Court, and the “sentence implementation orders” from the Prosecutor General’s Office, are only served to the Prosecutor of Mashad. Mohseni Ejehi, Iran’s Prosecutor General has repeatedly given orders to prosecutors nationwide to implement the execution sentences of drug traffickers in a swift manner.

Zoghi characterized execution statistics in Khorasan as “natural.” “According to anti-drugs laws, transportation, possession, and trade of more than 30 grams of heroin carries the death penalty. As the narcotics enter the Khorasan Razavi Province in high volume, naturally the rate of executions will be high, too,” he said.

Refraining from mentioning the exact number of executions carried out at Vakilabad in 2009 and 2010, Zoghi only addressed executions carried out since the beginning of the Persian new year, between 21 March and 21 June 2011 in general terms. “During the current [Iranian] year, we carried out execution sentences in 5 phases,” he said. Recently, the Campaign reported of 5 days where group executions were carried out between 21 March and 21 June 2011: 10 executions on 6 April; 12 executions on 13 April; 10 executions on 16 May; and 16 executions total on 23 and 24 May.

In numerous reports last year, the Campaign reported of the secret executions of hundreds of prisoners at Vakilabad Prison in 2009 and 2010. The Campaign has also been informed of secret executions at Birjand, Taibad, Ghezel Hessar (Karaj), Karoon (Ahvaz), and Orumiyeh Prisons. In many cases, local and judicial authorities have only implicitly admitted the existence of these executions. The Campaign has gathered information that indicates most of the unannounced secret group executions have been carried out inside Vakilabad Prison and Ghezel Hessar Prison. In the past 2 years, hundreds of prisoners have been hanged inside these 2 prisons. According to information received from local sources, several thousand prisoners are currently on death row on drug trafficking charges in Vakilabad and Ghezel Hessar Prisons.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran regards the recent remarks by the Prosecutor of Tehran as more evidence of widespread and secret group executions at Vakilabad Prison, and urges Iranian judicial authorities to end the horrific trend of secret executions in Iranian prisons. Iranian judicial authorities use violent and lethal policies in confronting drugs. In recent years, such policies have show no indication of being effective in managing Iran’s drug problems. Additionally, the Campaign joins many other human rights organizations to ask the Iranian Judiciary to abolish the death penalty, due to its cruel, inhumane, and irreversible nature.

Source: Iran Human Rights, June 28, 2011

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Saudi Arabia: death row Filipino may be saved by blood money

The Saudi Reconciliation Committee (SRC) has announced that 37-year-old Rodelio “Don Don” Lanuza who is on death row and currently detained at the Dammam Central Jail could be saved from execution if blood money is paid to the family of his victim in two months' time.

“A member of the SRC told me on Monday that it took them six years to convince the aggrieved family to forgive Lanuza in exchange for blood money,” John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator, told Arab News on Tuesday.

Lanuza was convicted of and detained in November 2000 for killing a Saudi national in what he claimed was self-defense.

Monterona added, however, that Lanuza is worried that the aggrieved family may change their mind unless the money is paid.

“On behalf of Lanuza and his wife and 2 kids, Migrante-Middle East is calling on President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino lll to raise the needed money,” he said.

He added that this is a good opportunity for him to prove his critics wrong in saying that he's not giving enough attention to the concerns of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

On Sunday, Migrante-Middle East gave a “failing grade to President Aquino for unsatisfactory rating in his first year in office."

Monterona said that on Monday, he received a text message from Lanuza saying that the “embassy seemed to be sleeping on his case.” Arab News called Ambassador-designate Ezzedin H. Tago to get the embassy’s side but he was out of the Kingdom.

Monterona also said the SRC told him that no embassy representative attended the meeting on Monday night, during which an update on the blood money would have been discussed.

Other OFWs on death row and whose cases being monitored by Migrante-Middle East include brothers Rolando and Edison Gonzales, Eduardo Arcilla, Joselito Zapanta, Carlito Rana.

Source: Arab News, June 29, 2011

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Most Czechs support euthanasia, death penalty - poll

About 2/3 of Czechs support the possibility of euthanasia and the introduction of capital punishment, according to a CVVM institute's poll released today.

The poll showed that church-goers are often against euthanasia and the death penalty.

While also people aged over 60 tend to be more opposed to euthanasia, capital punishment has lower support among university graduates.

64 % believe that Czech legislation should make euthanasia possible, 27 % are against it.

Nearly 2/3 of the respondents would like to have capital punishment reintroduced and 1/3 is against the idea.

However, in the early 1990s, support for the death penalty was higher, being around 3/4 of the population.

The poll was conducted among 1115 persons over 15 in early May.

Source: Czech Happenings, June 29, 2011

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Nebraska: Feds say no to execution drug

State officials said Wednesday they are seeking a new supply of a controversial lethal-injection drug after determining that they probably can't use drugs obtained from an Indian pharmaceutical company.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration informed state corrections officials in early April that Nebraska lacked authority to import controlled substances such as sodium thiopental, a powerful sedative used in lethal-injection executions.

That led corrections officials and the Nebraska Attorney General's Office to decide that the state should obtain the proper import permits and seek a new source of the drug to carry out the death penalty.

The problem with the Indian drug purchase raises the prospect of further delays in the execution of double-murderer Carey Dean Moore.

Moore, 53, was sentenced to die for the execution-style murders of two Omaha cab drivers in 1979, but he has won several stays of that sentence over the years.

Attorney General Jon Bruning asked the Nebraska Supreme Court in January to set a new execution date. On April 21 [--] 10 days after the state learned of DEA's problem with the sodium thiopental the high court set a June 14 execution date for Moore.

But the execution was stayed May 25 after Moore's attorneys raised questions about the quality of the drug Nebraska obtained from Kayem Pharmaceuticals of Mumbai, India.

Moore's attorney, Jerry Soucie, said he was very concerned that the Attorney General's Office did not disclose the drug problem earlier as it was seeking to execute his client.

“I find that to be the most troubling aspect of this case,” Soucie said.

David Cookson, chief deputy attorney general, said his office didn't believe such disclosure was necessary.

Cookson said the office was confident the state would either obtain a new supply of sodium thiopental or be able to rectify the problem with the drugs it bought from India in January.

“As a result, we had nothing to inform the court,” he said. “We felt we were in a position to have the drugs."

Moore would be the first in Nebraska to die by lethal injection, the method adopted by the Legislature in 2009. That followed a Nebraska Supreme Court ruling that declared the electric chair unconstitutional.

When the high court stayed Moore's execution in May, Cookson said the state had abandoned efforts to make its current supply of sodium thiopental legally usable.

Instead, the focus was to have the Department of Corrections obtain federal authority to import such controlled substances.

Cookson said there are several overseas sources for the drug, which is no longer manufactured in the United States.

A spokeswoman for the Corrections Department said the agency now possesses a federal drug import permit and is seeking a new source of the drugs.

Dawn Renee Smith, the spokeswoman, said no decision has been made about what to do with the drugs purchased from India in January. Smith said the DEA has said they could be destroyed by the state crime lab if necessary.

Nebraska becomes the latest state to relinquish its supply of sodium thiopental obtained overseas.

In March, DEA officials seized Georgia's supply of the drug due to questions about how it had been imported. Georgia's supply came from Britain.

Tennessee and Kentucky also have turned over their supplies to federal officials.

Sodium thiopental is a fast-acting sedative that is the first of three drugs administered in an execution. Its use is controversial.

The last U.S. manufacturer quit making it earlier this year, setting off a scramble among states that utilize lethal injection.

Nebraska and at least 6 other states went overseas to obtain the drug. Other states switched to a different sedative [--] phenobarbital, a drug commonly used by veterinarians to euthanize animals to carry out executions.

Soucie has questioned whether the India company was properly registered to export drugs and whether Nebraska violated federal laws on importing controlled substances.

He and other death-penalty opponents also question whether the Indian drugs were a generic version that does not meet U.S. pharmaceutical standards, thus risking unnecessary pain in an execution.

In a June 9 court filing, Soucie included the contents of an email from the Kansas City, Mo., office of the DEA indicating that Nebraska officials were told on April 11 [--] 3 months after obtaining the drugs from India that the Department of Corrections “was not accepted” for the importation of such controlled substances.

The email indicated that George Green, an attorney for the state agency, was told how to apply for valid “importer registration."

Cookson said that once his office learned of DEA's concerns, it reached out to federal officials to determine if the Indian drugs could somehow be used, or if the state needed to obtain permits to obtain a new supply.

Eventually, the decision was made to seek a new supply, he said.

Source: Omaha World-Herald, June 19, 2011

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Mexico appeals to Supreme Court to spare citizen from death penalty

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to respond soon to an appeal this week by the Mexican government to spare the life of one of its citizens.

The Mexican government filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court Tuesday that demands Humberto Leal Garcia be given a reprieve from the death penalty.

He has been sentenced to die July 7 by a Texas judge after he was convicted in 1995 of raping and murdering a 16-year-old girl in San Antonio.

The Mexican government’s brief says the execution of Leal would violate the Vienna Convention of Consular Rights because he was not allowed to seek legal advice from his embassy before he was convicted.

The United States signed the treaty in 1969. Article 36 requires each participating country to promptly notify foreign embassies when their citizens are arrested abroad.

“The United States’ word should not be so carelessly broken, nor its standing in the international community so needlessly compromised,” the Mexican government’s brief says.

The brief was filed to support a petition by Leal’s attorneys to the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari and a stay of execution.

More than 40 other Mexicans are on death row in the United States. All of them should have been given an opportunity for legal assistance from their government, U.S. attorneys for Mexico say.

A spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry said that because Leal committed the ultimate crime with the rape and murder of Adria Sauceda, there is no injustice in making him pay the ultimate penalty.

Civil rights groups have pleaded for months that Leal be given a reprieve, but their pleas took on greater urgency this week with the intervention of the Mexican government.

Because an international treaty comes into play in executing a foreign citizen, “that judgment should be made by the U.S. Congress, not Texas,” the Mexican government’s brief says.

Civil rights advocates have contributed to efforts to save Leal by organizing a Web site for him at www.humbertoleal.org.

"Mr. Leal's case is receiving particular attention right now because of the pending execution date, but Mexico is committed to ensuring the rights of all Mexican nationals facing capital charges or death sentences," Katharine Huffman, principal in the Raben Group public policy foundation, told All Headline News.

Civil rights advocates are drawing hope for their efforts from a bill introduced in the Senate two weeks ago by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Huffman said.

The bill would require that federal courts review all death sentences against foreign citizens to determine whether they were denied access to legal advice from their embassies. If they were not given “consular access,” the death penalties could be commuted.

“Each year, thousands of Americans are detained abroad while they study, travel, work, and serve in the military,” Leahy said in a statement. “From the moment they are detained, their safety and well-being depends on the ability of United States consular officials to meet with them, monitor their treatment, help them obtain legal assistance, and connect them to family back home."

Leahy said his proposed Consular Notification Compliance Act “will bring the United States one step closer to compliance with the convention."

More than 100 foreign citizens from 30 countries have been sentenced to death by American courts.

A recent petition from former U.S. diplomats, Army generals and others to the Texas governor says the execution of Leal creates the risk of a tit-for-tat for Americans arrested abroad. In other words, other countries might refuse to grant consular access to the Americans.

More than 6,600 Americans were arrested in foreign countries last year, according to the U.S. State Department. Of those, about 3,000 were incarcerated.

The dispute prompted journalist Euna Lee to write a column in The Washington Post last week that invoked her 2009 arrest by North Korean soldiers while on assignment for a news story.

“It is difficult to describe the fear that comes with being arrested and detained in a foreign country,” Lee wrote.

In much the way she was denied consular access before spending 4-1/2 months in a North Korean jail, Leal also is being denied his rights under the Vienna Convention of Consular Rights, Lee said.

“While I am not questioning the verdict of the jury that convicted him of murder, our obligations under the Vienna Convention are clear in all cases, including Leal’s,” she said.

Source: All Headline News, June 29, 2011

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U.S.: Executed prisoner ‘suffered greatly’, testifies medical expert

A leading US anaesthesiologist has testified that a prisoner recently executed in Georgia, USA using a new lethal injection drug ‘suffered greatly’ during the process.

In a sworn affidavit, Dr David Waisel, an Associate Professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School, stated: “…I can say with certainty that Mr. [Roy] Blankenship was inadequately anesthetized and was conscious for approximately the first three minutes of the execution and that he suffered greatly.”

“Critically”, he added, eyewitness accounts stated that Mr Blankenship’s eyes “were open throughout”. According to Dr Waisel, his eyes should not have remained open after the injection of the anaesthetic pentobarbital, which Georgia was using in an execution for the first time. In response to opinions reported in the media that Mr Blankenship could have been ‘faking it’, Dr Waisel points out that “one cannot fake eyes-wide-open at death.”

Roy Willard Blankenship was executed on 23 June using the new execution drug pentobarbital (also known as Nembutal), which has largely replaced the previously-used anaesthetic sodium thiopental in most executing states. Sodium thiopental has become scarce in the US in the last few months, following the halting of domestic production.

Concerns have been raised over the safety of the new execution protocols involving pentobarbital, and accounts are starting to emerge of apparently botched executions resulting from the use of a new and untested drug. Reports of the execution in Alabama of Eddie Duval Powell on 16 June – the second in that state using pentobarbital – show that his behaviour during the process was similar to that of Mr Blankenship, including the jerking of the head and expressions of apparent surprise and discomfort.

1. For further information please contact Donald Campbell in Reprieve’s press office on +44 (0) 20 7427 1082 / (0) 7791 755 415

2. The full text of Dr Waisel’s affidavit is available on Reprieve’s website – key extracts are below:

“…I can say with certainty that Mr. Blankenship was inadequately anesthetized and was conscious for approximately the first three minutes of the execution and that he suffered greatly. Mr. Blankenship should not have been conscious or exhibiting these movements, nor should his eyes have been open, after the injection of pentobarbital.

[…]

“Only when a drug has been tested systematically on thousands of subjects, with their consent, can one begin to reliably assess how an untested use of a drug will affect human subjects. We do not have relevant data in similar populations for pentobarbital. Because we do not have sufficient data, there is no way to know, in any given case, how an overdose of pentobarbital will affect basically healthy inmates. Mr. Blankenship’s reaction to the pentobarbital injection may be indicative of other inmates’ reactions.”

3. Further information on the executions of Mr Blankenship and Mr Powell, including links to eyewitness media accounts, can be found here: http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press/2011_06_28_botched_pentobarbital_executions

Reprieve, a legal action charity, uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantánamo Bay. Reprieve investigates, litigates and educates, working on the frontline, to provide legal support to prisoners unable to pay for it themselves. Reprieve promotes the rule of law around the world, securing each person’s right to a fair trial and saving lives.

Clive Stafford Smith is the founder of Reprieve and has spent 27 years working on behalf of people facing the death penalty in the USA.

Reprieve logoReprieve

PO Box 52742

London EC4P 4WS

Tel: 020 7353 4640

Fax: 020 7353 4641

Website: www.reprieve.org.uk

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Cheese Hamburger Buns (GF)

A story in pictures

Here are the hamburger buns

 Here we've loaded them as described in the recipe with tomato, onion and cheese for the barbie

 A photo of how they look inside

 Hmmm - getting ready to toast them on the barbecue

 One lonely steak?  I decided to have my African Chicken Peanut Soup instead.  I'm tired of steak (only grass-fed steaks sold here), but my DH can never get enough it seems.  There are more Omega-3's in steak than salmon!  So Ian says.

 Toasted, melty cheese perfection

 Look who was watching us - A Titi monkey (Jeoffroy Tamarin).  I gave him a banana!

CHEESE HAMBURGER BUNS

 G00D TOAST SUBSTITUTE

These bun halves are terrific toasted.  They are flattish buns and even flatter the next day, but perfect for toast!  I love the toast and will deliberately make these for using as toast.  You can’t tell that it is not real toasted bread; in fact, I like it more than most regular, store-bought breads for this purpose.

8 oz regular cream cheese, softened (250 g)

4 large eggs

1¹/₈ cups Gluten-Free Bake Mix, (280 mL)

  page___

¹/₂ cup almond flour (125 mL)

2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese (30 mL)

1 tsp baking powder (5 mL)

¹/₂ tsp baking soda (2 mL)

¹/₂ tsp vanilla extract (2 mL)

¹/₄ tsp salt (1 mL)

2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese (500 mL)

Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Line jelly roll pan with foil and grease well. 

In food processor, combine cream cheese and eggs; process well on low speed.  Add Gluten-Free Bake Mix, page___, almond flour, Parmesan cheese, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla extract and salt; process until thickened.  Add cheese and process until incorporated. 

Drop batter by rounded ice cream scoops onto prepared pan. Spread the batter out in a flattish circle (remember the bun will rise only slightly more than the circle you make, but you want them flattish for making good toast). Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until browning on top.

Yield:   12 servings

1 serving

203.6 calories

10.2 g protein

16.4 g fat

2.9 g carbs

Helpful Hints:  If you make the circle high and don’t spread the batter, then this “bun” recipe will remind you more of biscuits, I think.  I do like my biscuit recipe more than this one for that purpose though.   The beauty of these flatter  buns is that you can horizontally slice them in half and stick them in a regular toaster.  They toast up nice and crisp just like regular toast.  I love them toasted with butter, peanut butter and any low-sugar preserves.  For the barbecue, we place thinly sliced tomato, thinly sliced onion and cheese on a sliced, buttered bun, top with the other half and place above the grill towards the end of the time it takes to barbecue the meat.  Delicious! Use a flat lifter to turn the buns. Close the lid and check on them frequently.  I think this is a good toast stand-in and a good hamburger bun stand-in when done on the barbecue (for fresh, more neutral-tasting buns see page___).  Slice them when fresh as it is easier than slicing them the next day after refrigeration.