Worldwide Wednesday International Roundup: China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Tanzania

China 

On June 21, 2024, China announced that courts, prosecutors, public, and state bodies should use the death penalty against Taiwan separatists. The state-run Xinhua news agency reported that the new guidelines recommend “severely punish[ing] Taiwan independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession crimes in accordance with the law, and resolutely defend national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.” Critics say that the vagueness of the legal language in the new guidelines mean that many acts could now constitute death-eligible crimes, with former Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu telling Deutsche Welle that approximately 90% of Taiwan’s population could now be criminalized. In response to these new guidelines, Taiwan instituted a travel warning, urging its citizens against “unnecessary travel” to mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. China responded in a statement, encouraging Taiwanese to “arrive in high spirits and depart well content.” In an exclusive, Reuters reported on July 4 that several foreign multinational companies are evaluating the risks for Taiwanese employees in China, with some staff already accepting the option to relocate. James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based partner at the Perkins Coie law firm, told Reuters that “The companies are still concerned that there may be some grey areas such as whether a benign social media post or voting for a particular political party or candidate in Taiwan elections could be interpreted as engaging in pro-independence activities.”  

Democratic Republic of the Congo 

More than 53 people have been charged for participating in an attempted coup on May 19, in which armed men attacked the home of the economy minister and then occupied the office of the president until their leader, U.S.-based American-Congolese politician Christian Malanga, was killed by security forces. Among those charged with offenses punishable by death are six foreign nationals, including three Americans—Marcel Malanga, son of Christian Malanga, high school friend Tyler Thompson, and Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun. The DRC lifted its moratorium on the death penalty in March.  

India 

Three new criminal laws, effective July 1, has increased the number of death-eligible offenses from 11 to 15, including offenses that fail to meet the international legal threshold of a “most serious crime;” for example, the new provision makes the gang rape of a women under 18 a death-eligible offense, aligning it with the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, and makes mob lynching a death-eligible offense.  

Iran 

According to Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), at least 249 people have been executed in the first six months of this year. 147 of the executions were for drug-related charges, which is a 30% decrease when compared to the same period last year. IHRNGO explains that ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections, the number of executions sometimes decrease in order to encourage political participation but warns of an immediate and drastic increase that often follows elections. 

On June 15, 2024, Sweden released convicted war criminal Hamid Nouri in exchange for two Swedish nationals imprisoned in Iran – Johan Floderus and Saeed Azizi. Mr. Floderus, an EU diplomat, was accused of spying for Israel and detained in Iran in April 2022. At the same time, Sweden was prosecuting Mr. Nouri, utilizing the principle of universal jurisdiction, for his participation in the 1988 summer massacres in Iran, which resulted in 5000 executed dissidents, according to 2018 figures from Amnesty International. Mr. Nouri was sentenced to life in July 2022, and the appeals court upheld the verdict in December 2023, when Mr. Floderus’ trial for “corruption on earth” began. The Swedish Supreme Court affirmed Mr. Nouri’s conviction on March 6, 2024. Although Mr. Floderus and Mr. Azizi, a dual Swedish-Iranian national who was detained in November 2023 and sentenced to five years in February, were released in the Oman-mediated prisoner swap, Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian expert on disaster medicine detained since 2016 was not included; Swedish broadcaster SVT aired an audio message from Mr. Djalili, who said “Mister prime minister, you decided to leave me behind under huge risk of being executed. You left me here helpless. Why not me? After 3,000 days.” Following the exchange, protesters gathered outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sweden. “The decision by the Swedish government to return Hamid Nouri, a convicted criminal against humanity, to Iran in exchange for hostages marks a dangerous precedent with far-reaching consequences,” wrote activist and family member to a victim of the 1988 massacre Lawdan Bazargan. “By negotiating Nouri’s return, Sweden has compromised the integrity of international justice and signaled that political considerations can override judicial outcomes.”  

On June 22, 2024, the Supreme Court overturned dissident rapper Toomaj Salehi’s death sentence, imposed in April, and ordered a retrial. The Court also ruled that Mr. Salehi’s previous sentence of six years and three months violated “Iran’s multiple-offenses rules, and was in excess of the legal punishment,” according to Mr. Salehi’s lawyer Amir Raisian. A statement by the Index on Censorship states: “Whilst the Supreme Court’s decision is an important correction to Salehi’s cruel and unlawful treatment, it is critical that his rights are properly respected. Salehi’s case has been returned to Branch 1 of the Isfahan Revolutionary Court for resentencing. Even a shorter period of imprisonment would be an injustice: Salehi has done nothing other than to call for his, and other Iranians’, fundamental rights to be respected. He must be free to continue his music and seek the necessary medical care he needs following his imprisonment, free of any continued imprisonment, harassment or persecution.” 

On July 4, 2024, labor rights activist Sharifeh Mohammadi was sentenced to death on charges of “armed rebellion against the state.” The 45-year-old has been held in solitary confinement since she was arrested in December 2023, and according to human rights groups, has been subject to psychological and physical torture.  

Saudi Arabia 

As of June 25, 2024, the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR) has documented 84 executions in Saudi Arabia. Transparency in official data has decreased, ESOHR notes, with the type of verdict in 19 executions concealed, most of these occurring in the Specialized Criminal Court in terrorism cases. Despite a 2018 Juvenile Law prohibiting the execution of minors, ESOHR has warned of the imminent execution of two minors, Jalal Labad and Abdullah Al-Derazi, who have been sentenced to death in unfair trials, denied adequate legal representation, and subject to torture. 

Tanzania 

In overturning the death sentences of Nzigiyimana Zabron, a Burundi national, and Dominick Damian, a Tanzanian national, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights has once again ordered Tanzania to eliminate the mandatory death penalty from its statues in the next six months. The Court found that the mandatory death penalty prescribed under Section 197 of Tanzania’s Penal Code “constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of the right to life” and is in violation of Article 4 of the African Charter to allow judicial officers discretion at sentencing. Moreover, the Court found the method of hanging to be “a form of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” in violation of Article 5 of the Charter. Tanzania last carried out an execution in 1995.