Death penalty returns in Taiwan, Four executed

clipped from news-updations.blogspot.com TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan executed 4 people on Friday, the justice ministry said, in the island's first cases of capital punishment since 2005 when the sentence became a sensitive political issue. 4 inmates convicted of crimes connected to a murder case were executed late on Friday, the ministry said in a statement, following years of fractious debate that saw the ministry's chief quit last month in protest. "The justice ministry gave death penalty orders to the 4 people on April 28 and the order was carried out on April 30," the one-line statement said. Ex- Justice Minister Wang Ching-feng and Amnesty International have urged Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou to scrap the death penalty. Abolition of the law, which is widely supported, might hurt the government ahead of November local polls. A further 40 inmates remain on death row, the ministry said on Friday. Around 500 inmates were executed between 1987 and 2005.

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Bin Laden: Americans Will Die if Alleged 9/11 Mastermind Is Executed

clipped from www.foxnews.com Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden threatened in a new audio recording released Thursday to kill any captured Americans if the U.S. executes the accused mastermind of the Sept.11 attacks or any other Al Qaeda suspects. The U.S. is still considering whether to put Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four of his fellow plotters on military tribunal for their role in the Sept. 11 attacks. The Obama administration is also looking into recommendations for civilian trials, and is expected to announce a decision soon. In a brief 74-second audio tape aired on Al-Jazeera television, bin Laden said if the U.S. decides to execute any Al Qaeda suspects in its custody -- and explicitly mentioned Mohammed -- his terror network would kill American captives. The terror leader said such a decision "would mean the U.S. has issued a death sentence against whoever of you becomes a prisoner in our hands."

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Iran Plans to Execute 6 Arrested in Protests

clipped from www.nytimes.com Six people arrested in December protests will be put to death, Iranian authorities announced Monday, in what appeared to be strong warning to the opposition ahead of a traditional annual celebration. The tradition, the Feast of Fire, goes back thousands of years to Zoroastrian times and has been banned in Iran in recent decades because of its non-Islamic roots. The opposition had called for its celebration this year as a sign of protest. The six people whose sentences were announced Monday were among nine convicted of waging war against God by demonstrating during the commemoration. The death sentence for one was confirmed last month, and he was identified weeks later as a student, Mohammad-Amin Valian, 20. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, a New York group, warned this month that he was “in danger of imminent execution.”

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N Korea 'executes' top official

clipped from english.aljazeera.net A former top North Korean official has reportedly been executed over his handling of last year's botched attempt at currency reform that triggered widespread unrest. Pak Nam-gi, the former chief of the ruling Workers' Party finance and planning department, was executed by firing squad last week South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported on Thursday. The execution took place at a military range outside of the capital, Pyongyang, the agency said citing unidentified sources. Pak spearheaded last November's currency revaluation as part of the North's efforts to resolve worsening inflation. The move was also seen by many observers as an attempt by the country's leaders to reassert control over an emergent market economy. But the scheme, which involved redenominating the North Korean won, reportedly lead to widespread panic and unrest as many North Koreans saw their savings wiped out.

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NEWS ALERT: Tortured Iran Pastor Facing Execution, Christians say

clipped from www.worthynews.com TEHRAN, IRAN (Worthy News)-- The detained Assyrian pastor of an evangelical church in Iran has been tortured and told he may be executed for converting Muslims to Christianity and related charges, his wife and Christians with close knowledge about his situation said. The pastors' wife, Medline Nazanin, said in published remarks seen by Worthy News and its news partner BosNewsLife that that he had "visible marks of torture" when she visited him in prison. Her claims could not immediately be verified, but several rights groups and former Iranian prisoners have complained about abuses in detention centers. Iranian officials are not known to have commented on the case. Nazanin was reportedly told by prison authorities that her husband is accused of "performing baptism" and "converting Muslims to Christianity" and is "awaiting his trial and his death sentence". Under Iran's strict interpretation of Islam, "apostasy" can carry a death penalty and at least a long prison term.

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