PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 11/08/00

UA 366/00 Death Penalty 30 November 2000

BAHRAIN Yoshork Dostazudi (f), Ethiopian national, aged 20

An Ethiopian woman has been sentenced to death after being convicted of murder.

On 28 November the High Criminal Court sentenced Yoshork Dostazudi, a housemaid, to death for murdering her employer, Sadiya Baltaw, in al-Rifa‘ in December 1998. Sadiya Baltaw, a Filipino woman, was reportedly hit on the head with a hammer, and her body was dismembered. Yoshork Dostazudi has the right to appeal against her sentence under Bahraini law.

Amnesty International recognizes the rights and responsibilities of governments to bring to justice those suspected of criminal offences, but is unconditionally opposed to the death sentence in all cases as the ultimate violation of the right to life.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The death penalty is rarely used in Bahrain. Since 1977 only one execution has been carried out, that of ‘Issa Ahmad Qambar, a Bahraini national who was executed by firing squad in March 1996 after being found guilty of murdering a police official. Three other Bahraini nationals, ‘Ali Ahmad ‘Abdallah al-‘Usfur, Youssef Hussain ‘Abd al-Baqi and Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim al-Kattab, are currently under sentence of death. They were convicted by the State Security Court in July 1996 after unfair trials, having been charged with killing seven Bangladeshi nationals during a fire-bomb attack on a restaurant in Sitra.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send telegrams/telexes/faxes/express/airmail letters in English, Arabic or your own language:

- acknowledging the seriousness of the crime and expressing sympathy for the victims of crime and their relatives;

- urging the authorities to commute Yoshork Dostazudi’s death sentence, if it is upheld on appeal;

- reminding the authorities that the death penalty is brutalising to all concerned.

APPEALS TO:

His Highness

Shaikh Hamad bin ‘Issa Al Khalifa

Office of His Highness the Amir

P.O. Box 555

The Amiri Court, Rifa’a Palace, Bahrain

Fax: + 973 668884 (Please note that it can be difficult getting through to this number)

Salutation: Your Highness

His Excellency

Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa

Prime Minister

Office of the Prime Minister

P.O. Box 1000, Manama, Bahrain

Telegrams: Prime Minister, al-Manama, Bahrain

Telex: 9336 PROM BN or 7889 PMPO BN

Fax: + 973 533033 or + 973 532839

Salutation: Your Excellency

His Excellency

Shaikh ‘Abdullah bin Khalid Al Khalifa

Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs

Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs

P. O. Box 450, Manama, Bahrain

Fax: + 973 532 984

Salutation: Your Excellency

COPIES TO: diplomatic representatives of BAHRAIN accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 11 January 2001.