The Malaysian Insider :: Breaking Views
The Malaysian Insider :: Breaking Views |
| Saudi Arabia to behead seven tomorrow Posted: 04 Mar 2013 08:40 AM PST RIYADH, March 4 — Saudi Arabia is scheduled to execute seven men tomorrow for crimes committed when they were juveniles aged under 18, the British-based rights group Amnesty International said. The seven were sentenced to death in 2009 for an armed robbery in 2006, but Amnesty quoted the men as saying they were tortured into confessions. It said King Abdullah ratified their sentences in February. "They have since said they were severely beaten, denied food and water, deprived of sleep, forced to remain standing for 24 hours and then forced to sign 'confessions'," said Amnesty. A spokesman for the kingdom's Interior Ministry was not immediately able to comment on the report, but has repeatedly said in the past that Saudi Arabia does not practise torture. The kingdom, which follows a strict version of sharia, or Islamic law, has been criticised in the West for its high number of executions, inconsistencies in the application of the law, and its use of public beheading to carry out death sentences. The last time the kingdom executed so many people at once was in October 2011, when eight Bangladeshi men were put to death for an armed robbery in which a guard was killed. DISMAY The seven are from the southern province of Asir, one of the least developed in the kingdom, the world's top oil exporter. Saudi Arabia has executed 17 people so far this year, said Amnesty, compared to 82 in 2011 and a similar number last year. Capital crimes resulting in the death sentence last year included murder, armed robbery, drug smuggling, sorcery and witchcraft. In January, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed dismay at the beheading of a Sri Lankan maid convicted of murdering a baby. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a 2006 report that it was "deeply alarmed" at the imposition of capital punishment by Saudi judges for crimes committed before the age of 18. In an interview carried by the Saudi Gazette last week, King Abdullah's son Prince Miteb said the monarch "does not like to see anybody in this situation (of being condemned to death)". However, Miteb added that Abdullah views sharia as being "above everybody" and holds judges in high esteem. In recent years the king, who turns 90 this year, has pushed for reform of Saudi Arabia's judiciary to make sentencing more standardised and improve training for judges, changes that have been fiercely contested by some conservative clerics. He has also encouraged the families of murder victims to accept blood money instead of insisting on execution. — Reuters |
| IAEA says not yet contacted by Syria rebels about ex-nuclear site Posted: 04 Mar 2013 08:18 AM PST
The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has long sought access to a site in Syria's desert Deir al-Zor region that US intelligence reports say was a nascent, North Korean-designed reactor geared to producing plutonium for nuclear weapons before Israel bombed it in 2007. On Feb. 24, opposition sources in eastern Syria said rebels had captured the destroyed site near the Euphrates River. "Certainly we are aware of the report on (the) rebel group's offer to invite us to the site of Deir al-Zor but we are not aware of any communication to that effect," Amano, IAEA director general, told a news conference, referring to a media report last month. The Vienna-based watchdog has also been requesting information about three other sites that may have been linked to Deir al-Zor. Syria says Deir al-Zor was a conventional military facility but the IAEA concluded in May 2011 it was "very likely" to have been a reactor that should have been declared to its anti-proliferation inspectors. The UN investigation appears to have died down since the national revolt against President Bashar al-Assad broke out in 2011, with the armed opposition increasingly capturing military sites in rural areas and on the edges of cities. UN inspectors examined the site in June 2008 but Syrian authorities have barred them access since. "I renew my call to Syria to fully cooperate with us in connection with unresolved issued related to the Deir al-Zor site and other locations," Amano earlier today told the IAEA's 35-nation governing board, according to a copy of his speech. — Reuters |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: ALL To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan