Number 31
IPS, the global news agency, brings you independent news and views on capital punishment. In this newsletter you will find in-depth reports by IPS correspondents from around the world and columns by experts, in addition to special sections for news from international NGOs and a review of the global media for a glimpse of what is happening on the ground. Join us in helping strengthen awareness about the abolition of death penalty – and encourage your friends and colleagues to subscribe to this free monthly newsletter.

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: Extrajudicial Killings Under Scrutiny
By Constanza Vieira
BOGOTA, Oct 30 - The dismissal of 20 officers and seven noncommissioned officers for extrajudicial executions of civilians presented as battlefield casualties "is a triumph for human rights organisations and for Colombian society as a whole," said Reynaldo Villalba of the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Collective.
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RIGHTS-SUDAN: New Trials Could Condemn more to Death
By Blake Evans-Pritchard
KHARTOUM Oct 30 - The number of people sentenced to death for their alleged role in the rebel attacks on Khartoum last May could rise if the government carries through its plans to set up more special anti-terrorism courts, according to human rights lawyers.
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RIGHTS-US: New Davis Reprieve Raises Hopes of Retrial
By Jonathan Springston
ATLANTA, Georgia,Oct 27 - A federal appeals court in Atlanta has stayed the execution of Georgia death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis scheduled for Monday -- the third time he has been pulled back from the death chamber in just over a year.
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RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Condemned Pin Hopes on Amnesty
By Beena Sarwar
KARACHI, Oct 26 - Zulfiqar Ali, 38, has been snatched from the gallows once again after Pakistan's president agreed to give his relatives more time to negotiate clemency from the families of two persons shot dead during a violent dispute.
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RIGHTS-SRI LANKA: Migrants Deaf to Death Penalty Warnings
By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO, Oct 22 - Foreign workers and their families continue to turn a blind eye to the risk of execution in the Middle East, particularly to the dangers of going to Saudi Arabia with its 'macabre' death penalty system.
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DEATH PENALTY-NIGERIA: 'Forced Confessions' Condemn Hundreds
By Toye Olori
LAGOS, Oct 21 - Amnesty International says that hundreds of those awaiting execution on Nigeria's death row did not have fair trials and may therefore be innocent.
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RIGHTS-ALGERIA: Death Sentences Follow Fugitives Thick and Fast
By Kaci Racelma
ALGIERS, Oct 20 - Algeria is set to be among the top three countries in the world with the highest number of death sentences passed in 2008, regularly condemning people accused of terrorism -- whether or not they are present in court to answer charges.
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RIGHTS: Activists Celebrate Iran's Ban on Juvenile Executions
By Zainab Mineeia and Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON, Oct 16 - International human rights groups have welcomed the reports out of Tehran Thursday that Iranian courts may no longer order the death penalty against juvenile offenders.
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DEATH PENALTY: Activists Reveal Japan's Death Row to the World
By Catherine Makino
TOKYO, Oct 10 - Japan's death row inmates revealed to the world on Friday their personal stories of isolation and suffering, uninformed until the last minute when they will be taken to the gallows.
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DEATH PENALTY-PAKISTAN: Reason For Hope on World Day
By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI, Oct 10 - As rights groups mark the Sixth World Day Against the Death Penalty with an appeal for an end to executions in Asia, Pakistan pulled one man back from the gallows and hinted that it will soon honour pledges to commute the sentences of over 7,000 death row inmates.
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Q&A: 'State Secrecy Over Death Penalty Must End'
Sabina Zaccaro interviews ELISABETTA ZAMPARUTTI from Hands Off Cain
ROME, Oct 9 IPS - The call for a universal moratorium on executions made by the U.N. General Assembly last year is a landmark. But the ultimate goal of worldwide death penalty abolition could be delayed unless the new General Assembly goes further.
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RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Civil Society United Against 'Honour' Killings
By Ashfaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR, Oct 6 - The current campaign against "honour" killings in Pakistan led by anti-death penalty NGOs has support from lawmakers and lawyers pressing for modifications of Islamic law to prevent perpetrators from evading justice.
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News from International NGOs:
Asia: Time To Move Towards Abolition Of The Death Penalty - Saudi Arabia: Death By Discrimination - Death Penalty Abolition Discussions in Morocco - Nigeria: "Waiting For The Hangman"

WORLD PRESS REVIEW:
JAPAN HANGS TWO MORE ON DEATH ROW - UN CRITICISES N KOREA FOR HOLDING PUBLIC EXECUTIONS - SOUTH KOREA. CONSTITUTIONALITY OF DEATH PENALTY TO BE REVIEWED - MALAYSIA. DEATH FOR SMUGGLING DRUGS - 40 FILIPINOS OVERSEAS FACE DEATH PENALTY: GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL - CHINA: FORMER BEIJING COURT PRESIDENT GIVEN SUSPENDED DEATH SENTENCE FOR BRIBERY - INDIA: ANTONY COMMUTES DEATH PENALTY OF JAWAN - DEATH PENALTY STILL STANDS IN BOTSWANA, SAYS KHAMA - SUDAN: SUPREME COURT REJECTS DEATH SENTENCE APPEAL - ALGERIA: REZAG BARA CALLS FOR DEFINITELY ABOLISHING DEATH PENALTY

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