Iran under pressure to abolish death penalty for drug trafficking

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1-Q2lQv_InuPv2PBBP4U7j7OIIIDpbcDT_PJU3XoozTgnNKZta_kmqfxnCdH2oCyR2WpeAhkiMBM4hPKFWH176zsnRo73Z3qO3u7lK1cVnNJn468KRA7L5a47Vai8dz5gdPiRRAbbtAE/s1600/Execution+Iran.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Public hanging in Iran" border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1-Q2lQv_InuPv2PBBP4U7j7OIIIDpbcDT_PJU3XoozTgnNKZta_kmqfxnCdH2oCyR2WpeAhkiMBM4hPKFWH176zsnRo73Z3qO3u7lK1cVnNJn468KRA7L5a47Vai8dz5gdPiRRAbbtAE/s400/Execution+Iran.jpg" title="Public hanging in Iran" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Several European countries cut off financial contributions to republic's counter-narcotics campaign</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Iran is under pressure to end its use of death penalty against drug traffickers after facing a serious shortfall in the international funding of the country's counter-narcotics campaign.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An increasing number of European countries have decided to cut off contributions even though the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) last year approved a 5-year country partnership programme for Iran that was aimed at providing about $20m (then 14.4m pounds).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The agency's latest annual appeal document, obtained by the human rights group Reprieve, which works for the abolition of death penalty, shows that Tehran has received zero in funding for 2016. The UK has confirmed in writing that it is no longer contributing. Similar indications have come from Italy, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Ireland and Norway.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">2 senior Iranian officials have recently complained about the lack of international support. Last week, Iran's prosecutor general, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, blamed "imperialist" powers for young people's addiction to drugs. In April, the Tehran Times quoted the interior minister as saying that Europeans were uncooperative.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Iran is a neighbour to Afghanistan, a leading producer and supplier of the world's drugs, and faces big challenges at home with a young population susceptible to a variety of cheap and abundant addictive drugs. Critics, however, say Iran's use of death penalty in this regard has done little, if anything, to address the issue.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It is increasingly untenable for abolitionist states to contribute to the funding of law enforcement-led counter-narcotics programmes in Iran due to skyrocketing drug-related executions in Iran," Maya Foa, director of Reprieve's death penalty team, told the Guardian on the sidelines of the 6th World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Oslo.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Iran executed nearly 1,000 people last year, of which more than 1/2 were for drug offences. It is difficult to gauge public attitude to executions in Iran but Iranians increasingly favour forgiveness in cases involving murder. The number of Iranian convicts whose lives were saved last year after being pardoned outnumbered those who were known to have been put to death for murder.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There has been a considerable drop in the number of executions in Iran since the beginning of this year (around 200 executions) but activists said it was too early to say if that amounted to a change in policy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The UNODC did comment on the cooperation of the Europeans. "The programme received funding in 2015 and there are pledges for 2016 from countries. It would therefore be premature to make any judgment on funding levels for the programme, especially as we are only halfway through the year," said David Dadge, UNODC's spokesperson.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">UNODC's deputy executive director, Aldo Lale-Demoz, recently said: "You'll never be able to control the world drug problem just by investing in law enforcement and repression."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Iran has hinted that it wants to end drug-related executions. In December, more than 70 MPs introduced a bill to end such executions and officials have since signalled that Iran is pursing the matter. Iran's chief prosecutor said last week that "we are not in favour of death penalty and we don't think it's appropriate".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Madyar Samienejad, an Oslo-based human rights defender, said comments by the Iranian judicial authorities over abolishing the death penalty for drug-related offences appeared to be serious, showing there was a will to tackle the issue. "I think this is the direct result of good campaigning. Executions have contributed to a great degree in how Iran is viewed from the outside world and the Iranian authorities seem to have begun acknowledging this, at least in their words," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Executions in Iran take place at the hands of the hardline judiciary, which acts independently of the moderate administration of Hassan Rouhani. But critics say the government has failed in preventing such executions take place in public and providing enough funding for lawyers defending convicts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Asked by the Guardian, the Norwegian foreign minister, Borge Brende, said last week: "We have been very clear regarding our funding towards the UN, and that we will not be a part of funding Iran's programs which is related to this inhumane practice." The French foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, however, said: "The fight against drug trafficking is one thing, the fight against the death penalty is another." He did not say whether France was still contributing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: The Guardian, June 29, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Abolition Austria Drug trafficking European Union France Germany Iran Ireland Islamic Law Italy Norway sharia UK UNODC Iran under pressure to abolish death penalty for drug trafficking

Several European countries cut off financial contributions to republic's counter-narcotics campaign Iran is under pressure to end its us...

Baca selengkapnya »

Call to halt execution of 2 prisoners in western Iran

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWJFoBhJBCnjlJggAJaEwi0g_EVoaD3uPjVyXjG03UlN_Y5Tzr6bk81E82MKmX_enemTO_TGOkqQrJDxPSwYfz_wX1ktuI1MUVTRNbHj4KfxlbvzHuCksSUupsU5DcQClzfNFROt7xKKo/s1600/Khomeini+shahr_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Watching a public execution in Iran (file photo)" border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWJFoBhJBCnjlJggAJaEwi0g_EVoaD3uPjVyXjG03UlN_Y5Tzr6bk81E82MKmX_enemTO_TGOkqQrJDxPSwYfz_wX1ktuI1MUVTRNbHj4KfxlbvzHuCksSUupsU5DcQClzfNFROt7xKKo/s400/Khomeini+shahr_1.jpg" title="Watching a public execution in Iran (file photo)" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watching a public execution in Iran (file photo)</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">On Wednesday, June 22, coinciding with a visit by the Iranian regime's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to France and the Netherlands, and simultaneous with the global conference against the death penalty with the participation of more than 90 countries in Oslo, officials of the mullahs' regime in Iran have sent 2 prisoners by the names of Farzad Bizhani and Farhad Souri in Sanandaj Prison (western Iran) to solitary confinement in preparation for their executions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On this very day the criminal public prosecutor in the city of Mashhad (northeastern Iran) requested hand amputation verdicts for 3 prisoners accused of robbery (state Tabnak website - June 22).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Continuous executions, torture and floggings even during the holy month of Ramadan, considered amongst Muslims in Iran and all Islamic countries as a month of tolerance, kindness and benevolence, brings an end to the myth of moderation within the religious, fascist regime ruling Iran that cannot even temporary halt these crimes for a few days to merely save face.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Iranian Resistance calls for measures to save the lives of the 2 prisoners on the brink of execution and to prevent a verdict and implementation of hand amputation for the three inmates in Mashhad Prison. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Iranian Resistance also calls on all international humanitarian organizations to condemn these inhumane crimes. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Furthermore, the international community is urged to condition its economic and political relations with this inhumane regime, being the source of all the devastations, pains and sufferings of the people of Iran and the entire region, on an improvement of human rights in Iran.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: NCRI, June 22, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

France Iran Islamic Law Netherlands Ramadan sharia Call to halt execution of 2 prisoners in western Iran

Watching a public execution in Iran (file photo) On Wednesday, June 22, coinciding with a visit by the Iranian regime's Foreign Minister...

Baca selengkapnya »

Cannes 2016, Un Certain Regard: Apprentice, by Boo Junfeng

<div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj66JcK_z8Jz9iNyg1D1peC7BMUzlAKT6EeC4MKXdKSU7DMClZi673D5-RzAtmpcVWilfiDIAGLvo2MpILoWP-dfDz1jKf0II0_OdJ8VK5QzeX_8Nut68xT4qb1Ezx8BGe2ONBHle0zjCo/s1600/apprentice+2016+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj66JcK_z8Jz9iNyg1D1peC7BMUzlAKT6EeC4MKXdKSU7DMClZi673D5-RzAtmpcVWilfiDIAGLvo2MpILoWP-dfDz1jKf0II0_OdJ8VK5QzeX_8Nut68xT4qb1Ezx8BGe2ONBHle0zjCo/s400/apprentice+2016+poster.jpg" width="282" /></a></div><i>Aiman, a 28-year-old correctional officer, is transferred to a maximum security prison. He strikes up a friendship with Rahim, who is revealed to be the chief executioner of the prison, and one of the world’s most prolific. Can Aiman overcome his conscience and a past that haunts him to become the executioner’s apprentice? </i><br /><br />SINGAPORE: Boo Junfeng’s sophomore feature <i>Apprentice </i>did not come away completely empty-handed when it failed to pick up an award at the recent Cannes Film Festival.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Following its premiere in the progressive Un Certain Regard section of the festival, where it received positive feedback from film critics and a standing ovation, the prison drama also got picked up for distribution in the UK and Ireland.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Arrow Films, a multi-platform distributor of feature films and TV series, picked up the distribution rights to the film in these markets after being “totally struck by director Boo Junfeng’s power and skilful execution”, according to Arrow’s acquisition director Tom Stewart.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This is yet another feather in <i>Apprentice</i>’s cap, adding on to a packed international theatrical release schedule that includes Poland, Mexico, Turkey, Greece and Hong Kong. Boo’s tale about the relationship between a young correctional officer and the chief executioner of a prison opened in France on Wednesday and is scheduled to hit Singapore cinemas at the end of this month. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The positive reviews so far have been very helpful.” Boo told Channel NewsAsia. “I'm very happy the film will be seen in cinemas in all these territories. I’m especially thrilled that my friends in the UK will be able to see the film in theatres.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He revealed that a US theatrical release is also being worked on.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Boo is touted as one of Asia’s fastest rising directorial talents. <i>Apprentice </i>is the follow-up to his critically acclaimed debut <i>Sandcastle </i>and is a Singapore/Germany/France/Hong Kong/Qatar co-production. Shot in both Singapore and Australia, the film is an international collaborative effort with French cinematographer Benoit Soler and British production designer James Page.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It stars Malaysian film and stage veteran Wan Hanafi Su and Singaporean newcomer Firdaus Rahman. Singapore auteur Eric Khoo is executive producer and Akanga Film Asia’s Fran Borgia and Peanut Pictures’ Raymond Phathanavirangoon are serving as producers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singaporean-filmmaker-boo/2842340.html" target="_blank">Channel News Asia</a>, June 3, 2016<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AxY3zZCqeTw?rel=0" width="560"></iframe><br /></div><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">"Apprentice"</span></b><br /><br /><b>Who Made It? </b>Boo Junfeng, whose first movie "Sandcastle" appeared at Cannes’ Critics’ Week in 2010.<br /><br /><b>Why It Might Be Great: </b>Junfeng is one of Asia’s fastest rising directorial talents. The morbid prison drama explores the relationship between the prison’s chief and a young correctional officer. The dynamic between the two should be intriguing due to the casting of veteran Malaysian actor Wan Hanafi Su opposite rookie Fir Rahman. The film is also gathering financial support from countries over the world. <br /><br /><b>What’s It Doing at Cannes?</b> Junfeng’s debut feature "Sandcastle" was the first Singaporean film to be invited to the International Critics’ Week at Cannes. Given that "Apprentice" is his follow up, it shouldn’t be a huge surprise to see his name again.<br /><br /><b>When Can I See It?</b> If you live outside of the U.S., you are in luck, because Luxbox just picked up the film for international distribution. In addition, it has been acquired for French release by Version Originale Condor and for distribution in Hong Kong by Bravos Pictures. No U.S. distribution has been confirmed.<br /><br />Source: <a href="http://www.indiewire.com/2016/05/2016-cannes-film-festival-what-you-need-to-know-about-these-6-un-certain-regard-titles-291179/" target="_blank">Indiewire</a>, Bryn Gelbart, May 2016<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Singapore death penalty under the spotlight as hangman film stirs emotions at Cannes</span></b></div><br />Before he made his new film about the death penalty, Boo Junfeng sat down to tea with some of Singapore’s retired hangmen.<br /><br />He also talked to the priests and imams who helped condemned prisoners make their last walk to the gallows.<br /><br />And most difficult of all, the young filmmaker spent years trying to reach through the curtain of shame to families who had lost fathers and sons to the hangman’s rope.<br /><br />But it was only after Boo, whose film was to premiere at the Cannes film festival Monday, met one particularly “humane” executioner that he had an epiphany.<br /><br />He realised that no movie has ever dealt with the whole horrible business from the perspective of the man who pulls the lever.<br /><br />“I had already started to write [the film] but after I met the first hangman I couldn’t write for three months. What completely threw me was how much I enjoyed his company,” said Boo.<br /><br />“He was not like I thought. He was likeable, charismatic, grandfatherly jocular and open about what he did. He took pride in the almost caring way he looked after the prisoners trying to make it as humane as he could, and I realised how difficult that was.<br /><br />“He really shook up my ideas and forced me to rethink everything.”<br /><br />So Boo took his film - he toiled over for five years -- one step further.<br /><br />For <i>Apprentice </i>has a shocking twist. It is the story of a young man who ended up learning the executioner’s trade from the man who opened the trapdoor on his own father.<br /><br />More surprising still is the intensity of the almost father-son relationship that develops between the young prison guard and the hangman.<br /><br />“He is in some ways searching for his father,” Boo said. “And in doing that he finds this man. What I was going for was human truth. I didn’t want to make it an activist film.”<br /><br />The death penalty is nevertheless a hot political issue in Singapore and in neighbouring Indonesia, particularly when foreigners have fallen foul of strict anti-drug smuggling laws.<br /><br />The execution of seven foreigners in Bali last year - including two Australians and a mentally ill Brazilian - sparked an international outcry, and several others, including a British woman and a Frenchman, are still on death row there.<br /><br />Boo said he began his research with the book <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Once-Jolly-Hangman-Singapore-Justice/dp/1742663737" target="_blank">Once a Jolly Hangman</a></i> which features Darshan Singh, Singapore’s chief executioner for nearly 50 years who once executed 18 men in one day.<br /><br />Its British author Alan Shadrake was arrested the morning after the book’s Singapore launch in 2010 and was held for a month in Changi prison for insulting the country’s judiciary.<br /><br />He had criticised the way he claimed the death penalty was disproportionately applied to the poor, while well-connected criminals and wealthy foreigners escaped the noose.<br /><br />Boo shot the prison scenes in disused prisons in Australia to avoid controversy in the tiny city state, where an estimated 95 per cent of the population still support the death penalty.<br /><br />“It would have been easy to make a film about the death penalty itself, but it’s much bigger than that. I learned so much about the value of human life” from making the movie.<br /><br />Boo, 32, one of a new wave of talented Singapore filmmakers, said his friends who are against the death penalty “may be disappointed by the film”, which is showing in the Certain Regard section at Cannes.<br /><br />“I took myself out of the comfort zone to address the issue from a different point of view. I don’t have a view myself. Because the humanity behind the issue is so much more complex,” [No, it isn't. - DPN] said Boo, whose semi-autobiographical first feature <i>Sandcastle </i>was a hit at the French festival in 2009.<br /><br />“Apprentice took so long because I had so much to learn, so many things were beyond my experience and very few people really knew (about this world)... And unfortunately almost of them are not around” to tell the tale.<br /><br />Source: <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1945582/singapore-death-penalty-under-spotlight-hangman-film-stirs" target="_blank">South China Morning Post</a>, May 16, 2016<br /><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Alan Shadrake Art Cinema Film France Malaysia Singapore Cannes 2016, Un Certain Regard: Apprentice, by Boo Junfeng

Aiman, a 28-year-old correctional officer, is transferred to a maximum security prison. He strikes up a friendship with Rahim, who is reveal...

Baca selengkapnya »