IPS Columnist Service

DEATH PENALTY NOT A DETERRENT BUT A CAUSE OF VIOLENCE By Fatima Aburto Fortunately for humanity, the death penalty is being eradicated from the world. Executions have dropped by 25 percent between 2005-2006 and the countries that still have the sanction are growing fewer and fewer. In fact between 1977 and 2006 the number of abolitionist countries has increased from 16 to 89; if you include countries that have not imposed a death sentence for the last ten years, the number rises to 129 that are free of this blight. Ninety percent of the executions worldwide are carried out by six countries: China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan, and the United States. More >>

RIGHTS-ZAMBIA: Cyberspace Casts Light on the Lives of Death Row
By Newton Sibanda
LUSAKA - "Can governments solve urgent social or political problems by executing a few or even hundreds of their prisoners?" asks Benjamin Mawaya, sweltering on death row in Zambia's Mukobeko high security prison in Kabwe, 150 kilometres from the capital of Lusaka.
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PAKISTAN: The Trivial Difference Between Life and Death
By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI - As Superintendent Nusrat Hussain Mangan of Central Prison in the southern port city of Karachi spends sleepless nights trying to figure out how to raise money to save the life of one inmate, just one of 107 on his death row, there are moments of near despair.
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DEATH PENALTY-SAUDI ARABIA: Legal Aid for Maid - After Close Shave With Sword
By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO - The dramatic reprieve for a condemned Sri Lankan housemaid won by lawyers, beating a Jul. 16 deadline for filing an appeal in the Saudi Arabian courts, has focused the international spotlight on a closed justice system which condemns people to death without legal representation at their trials.
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DEATH PENALTY-US: Inmate Gets Rare Last-Minute Reprieve
By Matthew Cardinale
SAVANNAH, Georgia - Troy Anthony Davis, a death row inmate in the U.S. state of Georgia whose guilt has been challenged by new evidence, won a 90-day stay of his sentence Monday, just hours before his scheduled execution.
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RIGHTS-IRAN: "Blood Was Everywhere, the Smell of Death"
By Omid Memarian
BERKELEY, United States - Criticism of Iran's judiciary is mounting following the brutal execution of a man who was convicted of adultery more than a decade ago and stoned to death on Jul. 5. Although the head of the judiciary branch, Ayatollah Mahmoud Shahroudi, issued a written order stopping the execution almost a month ago, the judge in the case insisted on stoning Jafar Kiani to death.
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Q&A: Voices for Abolition Grow Louder
Interview with Bill Pelke, Anti-Death Penalty Activist
BOSTON - In May 1985, Bill Pelke's beloved grandmother was brutally murdered in her Indiana home by four teenage girls. The court found Paula Cooper to be the leader and she was sentenced to die in the electric chair. Pelke was pleased with the verdict. But as the date of her execution drew near, Pelke realised that her death would not heal the pain he felt about losing his grandmother.
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DEATH PENALTY-KENYA: Call for Abolition As Thousands Await Execution
By Rosalia Omungo
NAIROBI - Politicians from leading parties and prominent human rights activists all seem to agree that the time has come for Kenya to abolish capital punishment. But as they continue to talk, courts continue to pass down death sentences, swelling the numbers on death row.
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RIGHTS-US: High Court Ruling Could Mean More Death Sentences
By Srabani Roy
NEW YORK - A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the disqualification of a juror who expressed doubts about the death penalty, combined with an increasing number of U.S. citizens who say their moral convictions make them ineligible to serve as jurors in capital trials, could mean future juries will be less representative of the country's diversity and more likely to hand down convictions, death penalty opponents say.
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News from International NGOs:
Updated database provides unique look at history of death penalty in the u.s. -- U.s. resolution an important step towards justice for 'comfort women' -- Amnesty welcomes abolition of the death penalty in rwanda -- Amnesty calls on ethiopia to reject death sentences -- European court finds russian federation guilty -- North Korea. Slogan tree smuggler publicly executed

WORLD PRESS REVIEW:
Pakistan: Murder Convict Hanged -- 2 Sentenced To Death In Chittagong -- Iran Confirms 2 Kurdish Reporters Sentenced To Death -- Former Alabama Prosecutor Questions Value Of Capital Punishment -- Jordan King Commutes Death Sentences Of Seven Militants -- Govt. Ordered To Pay Ex-Death Row Inmate And Others 102 Million Dollars -- Florida Judge Orders Halt To Executions Over Lethal Injection Problems -- New Study Examines Causes Of Wrongful Convictions -- News Series Highlights Problem Of Lost And Destroyed Evidence, Wrongful Convictions