Shahla Jahed Case (Executed Dec 1st, 2010)

Shahla Jahed (1970 – 1 December 2010) was an Iranian woman who was sentenced to death in June 2004 for murdering Laleh Saharkhizan, the wife of her boyfriend (under a temporary marriage) on October 9, 2002. Jahed had been living with Iranian footballer Nasser Mohammadkhani becoming his mistress in a temporary marriage which is allowed under Iranian law.

International human rights groups have campaigned for her release since she was jailed more than eight years ago. One day before the execution Amnesty International made a last-minute appeal for the sentence to be halted, saying Jahed had not received a fair trial. Mohammadkhani first faced charges of adultery which were later dropped, although he was sentenced to 74 lashes for drug-taking after the court heard he had smoked opium with Jahed. It was seen that he had escaped punishment for adultery because he was wealthy as well.. The Iranian courts halted the execution of Shahla Jahed when the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani became public.

Jahed was executed on December 1, 2010 at 5am local time at the Evin prison, north of Tehran. The victim's son was allowed to pull the stool from under her feet. (Source: Wikipedia)

Mike Stanfill: The Last Request

mike stanfill - the last request
envoyé par kroulik-junior. - Regardez les dernières vidéos d'actu.


What's the point of the last request?

Thu May 10, 2007

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - A convicted murderer put to death in Tennessee this week got his last meal wish after he died.

Philip Workman had turned down the usual final meal of his choice traditionally offered the condemned, asking instead that a vegetarian pizza be given to a homeless person.

Prison officials refused to send out a pizza and Workman died Wednesday by lethal injection.

But news accounts of his request touched a nerve with the public.
Nashville's Union Rescue Mission received 170 pizzas. Media reports said listeners to a radio station in Minnesota also ordered pizzas sent to another organization for troubled youngsters.

Dorinda Carter, spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Correction, said, "Taxes are to be spent on specific things for the care of the inmates." But she acknowledged there was no regulation against carrying out Workman's request.
An official at the mission said "the pizzas were enjoyed greatly by ouur clientele."



From:

http://www.privatehand.com/flash/request.html

The "Auto"biography of an Execution

The Autobiography of an Execution en Yahoo! Video

As a lawyer, David Dow has represented over 100 death row cases.


Many of his clients have died.


Most were guilty.Some might have been innocent.


The Autobiography of an Execution is his deeply personal story about justice, death penalty, and a lawyer’s life.

The Organization Witness on Innocence

According to the website Ncadp.Org:

"In 2006, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that there has not been "a single case - not one - in which it is clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit. If such an event had occurred in recent years, we would not have to hunt for it; the innocent's name would be shouted from the rooftops."

We knew then, though, that innocents had been executed. So we issued a report titled “Innocent and Executed: Four Chapters in the Life of America’s Death Penalty.” In that report, we told the stories of four such men: Ruben Cantu, Carlos De Luna, Larry Griffin and Cameron Todd Willingham.

Now, the story of Cameron Todd Willingham has garnered even more national attention, thanks to a recent article, "Trial by Fire," published in the September 7th edition of the New Yorker. The reporter, David Grann, lays out the powerful story of Willingham's conviction and execution, and demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt what we have known all along: That Cameron Todd Willingham was innocent, and he was executed.

As Justice Scalia asked, we are now SHOUTING FROM THE ROOFTOPS that this man was innocent. But we need your help to get the message out.."

Death penalty: Is it outdated in USA?

As the death penalty is discussed throughout the country, Hank Skinner is a death row inmate is fighting to prove his innocence but can't get excess to DNA evidences that can prove that his not guilty.


How can the United States continue to use the death penalty when there are multiple cases that are wrongfully accused?


Tony Katz says the people who sneak through the cracks are extremely minute; however DNA testing is necessary to stop those from happening.

Innocence Project

An Innocence Project is one of a number of non-profit legal organizations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand dedicated to proving the innocence of wrongly convicted people through the use of DNA testing, and to the reform of criminal justice systems to prevent future injustice. The original Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld as part of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University in New York City. It became an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in 2003, but maintains strong institutional connections with Cardozo.

In addition to working on behalf of those who may have been wrongfully convicted of crimes throughout the United States, The Innocence Project performs research and advocacy related to the causes of wrongful convictions. The Innocence Project is a member of the Innocence Network, which brings together a growing number of innocence organizations from across the United States, and includes members from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland.

According to wikipedia, as of January 21, 2010, 249 defendants previously convicted of serious crimes in the United States had been exonerated by DNA testing. Almost all of these convictions involved some form of sexual assault and approximately 25% involved murder

Center on Wrongful Convictions

Since 1998, the Center on Wrongful Convictions has been dedicated to identifying and rectifying wrongful convictions and other serious miscarriages of justice.


Narrated by the Center's co-founder and executive director, Rob Warden, this short video highlights the Center's past accomplishments and points to the future of reform.


Video by John Maki


Footage from Laurie Feldman's documentary The Innocent, and Rob Hess and News@Northwestern.


Photo credits: Loren Santow, Jennifer Linzer, and Mary Hanlo.