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Lawyers For Human Rights International an Organisation of Lawyers having its base in Punjab, India, being part of an International movement against Death Penalty, decided to visit Sharjah jail in UAE to meet the 17 prisoners who have been sentenced to Death for killing a Pakistani youth. Two member team comprising of Navkiran Singh a Human Rights Lawyer & Activist from Panjab, practicing in the High Court at Chandigarh and who is the General Secretary of LFHRI along with another Lawyer Gagan Aggarwal, visited Dubai and Sharjah on 13th and 14th of April 2010 and met the Lawyers who have been hired to defend these 17 Indians by the Indian Consulate of UAE and also visited Sharjah jail and met all the prisoners. This report presents their findings.

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Seventeen Indian migrant workers have been sentenced to death in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), after an unfair trial, for the murder of a Pakistani national.Some of the 17 are said to have been tortured to make them “confess.” They may be at risk of further torture.

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• Available languages Torturados y Condenados a Muerte 17 Indios

The first act took place in 1999, when the dirt-poor farmer from Henan province had a violent argument with a fellow peasant, Zhao Zhenshang. His opponent, no relation despite a shared surname, disappeared into thin air. Later a headless, decomposed corpse was found in a well, and produced as evidence of Zhao Zuohai’s murderous deed. He was tortured, forced to confess and received the inevitable death sentence, before eventually winning a reprieve from the firing squad and having his sentence commuted to a 29-year jail term.

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Two of the Bali Nine have been speaking publicly for the first time… just days ahead of final hearings on whether their death sentences for drug trafficking will be carried out.Dateline reporter Mark Davis gained exclusive access to Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan in the ‘death tower’ at Indonesia’s Kerobokan Prison.They talk openly about their lives then and now, what they think of their crimes, and the prospect of facing death by firing squad.Mark also hears first-hand of the heartache for their families back in Australia, as they wait to hear if their pleas for clemency will be granted.

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It was during this time Akmal met a man who claimed to be in the music industry; he told Akmal he could help him realise his dream of becoming a pop, When Akmal landed in China on 12 September 2007 the police stopped him, searched his bag, where they alleged they found around 4 kg of heroin, and arrested him on drug charges sensation and sent him to Kyrgyzstan to meet with his “colleagues”. In Kyrgyzstan Akmal was asked to accompany one of the men to China. The man claimed to own a nightclub there and said he wanted Akmal to sing in his club. Excited at the prospect, Akmal agreed to travel to China with him; Before boarding the plane Akmal was asked to carry this mans suitcase, he did so without knowing that there were drugs in it.

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In 1981, Mumia worked as a cab driver at night to supplement his income. On December 9th he was driving his cab through the red light district of downtown Philadelphia at around 4 a.m. Mumia testifies that he let off a fare and parked near the corner of 13th and Locust Streets. Upon hearing gunshots, he turned and saw his brother, William Cook, staggering in the street. Mumia exited the cab and ran to the scene, where he was shot by a uniformed police officer and fell to the ground, fading in and out of consciousness. Within minutes, police arrived on the scene to find Officer Faulkner and Mumia shot; Faulkner died. Mumia was arrested, savagely beaten, thrown into a paddy wagon and driven to a hospital a few blocks away (suspiciously, it took over 30 minutes to arrive at the hospital). The trial began in 1982 with Judge Sabo (who sent more people to death row than any other judge) presiding. Mumia wished to represent himself and have John Africa as his legal advisor, but before jury selection had finished, this right was revoked and an attorney was forcibly appointed for him. Throughout the trial, Mumia was accused of disrupting court proceedings and was not allowed to attend most of his own trial.

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A witness to the lethal injection execution of Stanley Tookie Williams describes what she saw at his execution. Stanley Tookie Williams execution was botched and he experienced 35 minutes of pain because part of the lethal injection 3 drug procedure did not work effectively.

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Mpagi Edward Edmary from Uganda spent over 18 years on death row, accused of killing a man who was later found to be alive.Mr. Mpagi’s family successfully campaigned for his release, providing evidence that the alleged victim was still alive. Sentenced to death for murder in 1982, the Attorney General proved that the man Mr Mpagi was accused of murdering was still alive in 1989. However it was not until 2000 when a nine member presidential committee released Mr Mpagi, deciding he was innocent.Held for many years in the Luzira Upper Prison, Mr. Mpagi taught his fellow inmates to read and write. He became one of the longest serving inmates and a prison elder. Mr. Mpagi is now an advocate for the abolition of the death penalty and is a committed religious leader. A graduate from a Catholic Diocese he regularly tours prisons providing inspiration and hope to prisoners.

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Ray Krone was on death row in Arizona State Prison for two years (and eight years in prison) before he was freed after DNA tests proved his innocence in 2002.Mr. Krone became the 100th death row inmate to be proven innocent in the United States of America since 1973. Mr. Krone was twice convicted for a murder he did not commit. Mr. Krone tell his story in this video.

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This report details the cases of thirteen men and one woman who were convicted of first degree murder in California and later freed after a court concluded that they had been wrongfully convicted.

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