FEATURED POST

Communist Vietnam's secret death penalty conveyor belt: How country trails only China and Iran for 'astonishing' number of executions

Published
Image
Prisoners are dragged from their cells at 4am without warning to be given a lethal injection Vietnam's use of the death penalty has been thrust into the spotlight after a real estate tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to be executed in one of the biggest corruption cases in the country's history. Truong My Lan, a businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, hotels, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022.

Ottawa welcomes release of Iranian-Canadian from Iran’s death row

Published
The federal government is calling the release of an Iranian-Canadian man who had been facing death row in Tehran a welcomed symbolic step from Iran.

Hamid Ghassemi-Shall was arrested in 2008 by Iranian police and charged with espionage. He was sentenced to death in 2009.

"We are obviously pleased that he has been able to be back with his family,” Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird told reporters in Montreal on Tuesday. “We want to encourage him obviously to return to Canada immediately before the situation changes."

But Baird warned that there is still a long way to go in order to improve Iranian relations.

"We want to see meaningful progress on human rights. It has an abysmal human rights record and that matters. We also want to see it take back steps from supporting terrorism," he said.

On Monday, Ghassemi-Shall's wife, Antonella Mega said she spoke with her husband after his release, but did not know when he would be leaving Iran.

"He sounds OK," Mega told CTV's News Channel. "He's still in the state of not really believing that he has seen the light and that he's breathing the fresh air. I think he's still exhilarated and a little bit out of sorts but extremely happy and delighted."

Mega said she has always been convinced of her husband's innocence and believes that the Iranian government knew this as well.

"I'm thankful that Iranian authorities released Hamid. We haven't given up on exculpating him and we've kept working throughout these years," Mega said.

Ghassemi-Shall, a Toronto shoe salesman, emigrated to Canada from Iran after the 1979 Iranian revolution. He had made several trips back to visit family without incident prior to 2008 when he was arrested.

Ghassemi-Shall was one of 80 prisoners released in Iran just hours after Iranian President Hasan Rouhani's departed to attend the annual UN General Assembly in New York. The unexpected, mass release is seen by some as an attempt to bridge relations between Iran and Western countries.

Source: CTV News, September 24, 2013

Related articles:
URGENT APPEAL for dual Iranian-Canadian Hamid Ghassemi ...
Apr 29, 2012
A man with dual Iranian-Canadian nationality, Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, appears to be at imminent risk of execution. His family was told on 15 April that his death sentence had been passed to the body within the Judiciary that ...
http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/
Ministers seek clemency for Canadian facing death penalty in Iran
Apr 16, 2012
In a joint statement, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Minister of State of Foreign Affairs Diane Ablonczy said Canada was “gravely concerned” Hamid Ghassemi-Shall's execution “may be carried out imminently.”.
http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/
Related content:

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

Communist Vietnam's secret death penalty conveyor belt: How country trails only China and Iran for 'astonishing' number of executions

Published
Image
Prisoners are dragged from their cells at 4am without warning to be given a lethal injection Vietnam's use of the death penalty has been thrust into the spotlight after a real estate tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to be executed in one of the biggest corruption cases in the country's history. Truong My Lan, a businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, hotels, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022.
Read more

Could Moscow attack suspects face execution in Belarus?

Published
Image
After the deadly terrorist attack at Moscow's Crocus City Hall, some Russian politicians are debating trying the suspects to Belarus, which still has death penalty. But it's not that simple. The terror attack on Moscow's Crocus City Hall has ignited debate about the reintroduction of the death sentence in Russia. Given that 140 people died and more than 500 were wounded at the concert hall on March 22, 2024, emotions are running high.
Read more

Iran | 9 prisoners executed in a single day

Published
Image
9 prisoners of drug charges executed in the central prisons of Kerman, Chabahar and GhezelHesar According to the Iranian Human Rights Society website, on Sunday, April 21st, 2024, 9 prisoners including, Baloch and Kurdish drug suspects were executed in the central prisons of Kerman, Chah bahar, and GhezelHesar.  
Read more

Bill Moves Forward to Prevent Use of Nitrogen Gas Asphyxiation in Louisiana Executions

Published
Image
There’s an effort underway, in the current legislative session in Baton Rouge, to reverse course on the controversial execution method with Senate Bill 430. When Louisiana legislators approved the use of nitrogen gas asphyxiation as an execution method during a second special legislative session in February, the move attracted national attention; not the least because it has only been used in the U.S. once. That’s when Alabama executed convicted killer Kenneth Eugene Smith on January 25th of this year. Now there’s an effort underway, in the current legislative session in Baton Rouge, to reverse course on the controversial execution method with Senate Bill 430.
Read more

Punjab | Woman sentenced to death for kidnapping, burying toddler alive

Published
Image
Neelam sentenced to death for burying toddler alive after kidnapping her, in a rare and heinous crime. The court found her guilty of murder and destruction of evidence, causing outrage in society. LUDHIANA: Over two years after the brutal murder of a toddler, the woman who killed her was sentenced to death by a local court. The convict had buried her neighbour’s two-and-a-half-year-old daughter alive. 
Read more

Alabama lawmakers reject bill which would allow some death row inmates to be resentenced

Published
Image
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - An Alabama House committee rejected a bill that would have impacted sentences for dozens of death row inmates. The proposal would have required courts to resentence people sentenced to death by a judge who overrode a jury’s recommendation of life in prison. That practice was outlawed in 2017. Representative Chris England passionately argued it should be retroactively applied for more than 30 death row inmates who were sentenced to death over a jury’s recommendation.
Read more