The Death Penalty

[landofsmiles]

Not a Thai story but having read the barbaric way of stoning people to death still goes on in Iran, as the Death Penalty is still metered out in Thailand how exactly is it administered here??
Currently, there are 858 convicts on death row, with 114 awaiting execution in Thailand.

Iran: Death penalty/ stoning: Mokarrameh Ebrahimi (f)
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/084/2007
09 July 2007

UA 179/07 Death penalty/ stoning

IRAN Mokarrameh Ebrahimi (female), aged 43

Mokarrameh Ebrahimi is at risk of execution by stoning for adultery. Ja’far
Kiani, who was convicted of adultery in the same case and with whom she has two children, was reportedly stoned to death on 5 July.

Mokarrameh Ebrahimi and Ja'far Kiani were sentenced to death by stoning after being convicted of adultery by Branch 1 of Takestan's Criminal Court. Under article 83 of Iran’s Penal Code, execution by stoning is prescribed for
adultery committed by a married man or a married woman. Under Iranian law,
adultery can only be proved by the testimony of eyewitnesses (the number
required varying for different types of adultery), a confession by the
defendant (repeated four times), or the judge's "knowledge" that the adultery
has taken place. In this case, the basis for the conviction of adultery was the judge’s "knowledge" that adultery had taken place.

The executions by stoning of Mokarameh Ebrahimi and Ja’far Kiani were initially scheduled for 17 June 2007 after an appeal to the Judicial Commission for Amnesty and Clemency to overturn their sentence was rejected, but was later changed to 21 June. The stonings were to be carried out publicly in the
Behesht-e Zahra cemetery, in the town of Takestan in Qazvin province,
northwestern Iran, in the presence of a judge from Branch 1 of the Criminal
Court which sentenced them to death.

After activists involved in Iran's ‘Stop Stoning Forever’ campaign publicized
this planned execution, the Iranian government was subject to widespread
domestic and international demands, including from Amnesty International, to
prevent the stonings. Following this outcry, it was reported on 20 June that
the Head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi, had issued a written order
requiring the judiciary in Takestan to stay the execution temporarily, though
Mokarrameh Ebrahimi and Ja’far Kiani remained under sentence of death by
stoning.

On 7 July, the ‘Stop Stoning Forever’ campaign reported that Ja’far Kiani had been stoned to death in Aghche-kand, a village outside Takestan, two days earlier. According to reports, the stoning was conducted mostly by local
governmental and judiciary officials, and only a few members of the public
participated.

On 8 July, the newspaper E’temad-e Melli reported that local people and a
source connected to one of the local parliamentary representatives had
confirmed the execution, although as yet there has been no statement from the judiciary.

Mokarrameh Ebrahimi has been imprisoned for the past 11 years in Choubin prison in Qazvin province. Her two children, one of whom is aged 11, are believed to live in prison with her.

I also read somewhere else that when it is a woman they are buried up to their necks...men only up to their waste and with their hands tied behind their backs. Also that only stones are used that are not big enough to kill someone with a single blow :-(

[Dodger]

In Thailand the death penalty is now administered by lethal injection, they were shot until quite recently think about 10 years ago. Just read a book called the Last Executioner by Chavoret Jaruboon, really quite interesting as it is from his experience as a prison officer at the Bangkok Hilton, Kwang Prison, and written from his perspective of daily events and how he progressed to be the last guy who actually fired the gun. Enjoyed it a lot especially as I have previously read Welcome to the Bangkok Hilton and another similar book written by prisoners and it is good to compare these farang accounts with that of a Thai guard.