June 8
ENGLAND----film review MOVIE REVIEW | 'PIERREPOINT THE LAST HANGMAN'----Paying the Price on Both Ends of a Hangman's Rope Timothy Spall is the quintessential blundering bloke in English movies. You've seen him in several Mike Leigh films, playing a portly working-class oaf with a sloping chin and chipmunk teeth, wearing a look of wide-eyed bafflement as he lumbers through life. Usually his characters convey a profound reticence. But when the stored-up indignities visited upon them become too much to bear, they can explode with apoplectic outrage. In "Pierrepoint The Last Hangman" Mr. Spall sinks his teeth into one of the juiciest roles of his career: Albert Pierrepoint, a once-celebrated English hangman who the movie says executed more than 600 people from 1933 to 1955. A third of those were Nazi war criminals, including members of the hierarchy that operated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Pierrepoint was handpicked by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery to demonstrate to the world that British justice (unlike the Nazis) was fair but firm. Pierrepoint was proud of his work, which he performed with a dispassionate efficiency. The gallows humor is literal in one disquieting scene in which condemned Nazis are disposed of 2 at a time, assembly-line fashion, to the strains of a Strauss waltz. These mass deaths bring to mind the lethal barbershop of "Sweeney Todd." The movie, directed by Adrian Shergold from a screenplay by Jeff Pope and Bob Mills, uses Pierrepoint's story to address the issue of capital punishment from a shockingly intimate perspective. Many hangings are shown in semi-close-up, observed from both the viewpoint of the executioner and the prisoners facing imminent death. Some of the condemned are bathed in sweat and murmuring desperate prayers for help. Others remain silent and expressionless. Pierrepoint devised a system of variable lengths of rope, based on a prisoner's height, weight and girth, to ensure that death was swift and that the head wasn't snapped off the body. As a white hood is lowered over the head, the noose tightened around the neck and a lever pulled to drop the body from the scaffold, you cannot avert your eyes. Afterward Pierrepoint and an assistant detach the corpse from the rope, clean it and cover it with a shroud. The hangman is carrying on his family occupation. "It's in my blood," he declares with a certain smugness. As he is commended for the speed with which he kills (the shortest execution is completed in a record 7 1/2 seconds) he swells with a sense of accomplishment. According to tradition this work is carried out in secrecy. He and his prim, avaricious wife, Anne (Juliet Stevenson), have an unspoken agreement never to mention it, although she knows all, having stolen looks at her husbands meticulously maintained hangman's log. "Pierrepoint" is much more than straightforward fictionalized biography. Once Pierrepoint travels to Germany as the designated executioner of guilty Nazis, the movie confronts you with the obvious parallels between this anonymous functionary carrying out lethal sentences handed down by others, and the Nazi defense that in sending millions to their deaths, they were merely following orders. Like Pierrepoint, the Nazis kept detailed records of their actions. An unspoken question hovers: Where does culpability begin? One major difference between Pierrepoint and the Nazis is the degree to which he empathizes with the men and women he executes. Once they die, he insists, they have paid their price and are innocent and deserve respect. When an assistant comes up short one coffin, Pierrepoint angrily insists that one must be found. He feels no hatred for the condemned, only sorrow. Unlike the Nazis, he would never describe his executions as "extermination." But his detachment begins to crumble once his occupation is no longer a secret and he returns from Germany to find himself a celebrity hailed by one newspaper headline as an "avenging angel." The blood lust of the British public unnerves him. His notoriety also cuts 2 ways. He is called a murderer by protesters at a rally against capital punishment. And in the most excruciating test of his character, his work and personal life converge traumatically. The wrenching movie ends with a 1974 quotation from Pierrepoint, made nearly 2 decades after he retired from the profession: "The fruit of my experience has this bitter aftertaste. Capital punishment, in my view, achieved nothing except revenge." As this sad, shambling antihero swings from one pole to the other on the issue of capital punishment, you are inclined to follow every step of the way toward his tragic enlightenment. "Pierrepoint The Last Hangman" is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian) for disturbing images, nudity and sexual situations. PIERREPOINT----The Last Hangman Opens today in Manhattan. Directed by Adrian Shergold; written by Jeff Pope and Bob Mills; director of photography, Danny Cohen; edited by Tania Reddin; music by Martin Phipps; production designer, Candida Otton; produced by Christine Langan; released by IFC First Take. Running time: 90 minutes. WITH: Timothy Spall (Albert Pierrepoint), Juliet Stevenson (Anne Fletcher), Cavan Clerkin (George Cooper), Eddie Marsan (Tish), Christopher Fulford (Charlie Sykes) and Ian Shaw (Percy). (source: New York Times) ****************** DEATH ROW PRISONERS GIVEN A LIFELINE There's little doubt that the letters received from strangers by prisoners on death row are treasured as a precious link with the outside world. To them it's evidence that they're human beings with people caring about their bleak lives, which see them at risk of violence and abuse and often confined to tiny cells for 23 hours a day. Many of the letters received come from members of LifeLines, an organisation founded in 1988 by Jan Arriens, a Quaker who was touched by a powerful BBC documentary Fourteen Days In May. The programme followed the last days of prisoner Edward Earl Johnson and his appeal against the death penalty. The programme was given unprecedented access to inmates' lives on death row and, when Johnson's final appeal failed, showed him spending his last hours with his family. He was executed with new evidence coming to light after his death proving his innocence. Mr Arriens began writing to 3 prisoners featured in the documentary who told him how good it was to have their voices heard outside prison walls. The organisation grew, with members around the country regularly putting pen to paper to let prisoners know they care. It isn't a dating service with any prisoners who misconstrue the selfless gesture told that this isn't about romance but support. It goes without saying that letter writers are non-judgmental - for every innocent person convicted, others have committed terrible crimes - but prisoners say letters make them feel worthwhile again. "I can't begin to explain how much it means to us to have a friend on the outside who cares enough to send a letter or a card to a man or a woman who is condemned to die. You on the outside of these walls help us on the inside to feel that we are actually human beings, rather than worthless contaminated animals," said Randy Wall, a prisoner on death row in California. Keynsham woman Margaret Downing started writing to an American prisoner in 2002 after previously watching a documentary about the work of LifeLines. Years passed before she put pen to paper because she knew that once she started it had to be a commitment - for as long as the prisoner, who she prefers not to name, lived. "Probably 15 years passed before I felt I could commit," she said. "It really is a commitment; these guys have had so much rejection in their lives and been abandoned by everybody from home to humanity so I knew it had to be when I was ready to make that commitment. "I wrote my first letter on a Boxing Day when I'd been invited to a meal out which was cancelled and I thought I would do something significant on that day. "In the new year I got a letter back from the man who was to become my friend and I treasure that letter to this day. "The first thing that struck me was we shared a birthday - it was like a good omen and like we had something in common. "Now we write to each other most weeks. "He is 61 and has been in jail for 25 years and I am coming in at the end of his life. "The horrors of the crime is not the aspect that we're going into - how can one take a side anyway? "How can I judge if I only hear one side? So we are discouraged from getting entangled in that. "Obviously I take an interest in his contact with his lawyer and that sort of thing but this is about friendship, and I never dreamt about the support and encouragement I would get in return. "He believes in seizing the day and that life is to be lived today. We share an interest in fitness and I think if he can manage to stay fit in his prison cell, which is smaller than my bathroom, then I can stay fit. "He has had a rather chequered time; he was on death row in Illinois and was reprieved but now he has been transferred to Arizona and he is back on death row again. "I am very guarded in what I tell people about LifeLines because some people can't cope, others can and some of my friends actually send him a birthday card. "You just never quite know how people are going to respond but often that is because they are not aware of the situation on death row." Suzanne O'Callaghan from Bath was one of the very first people to start letter writing through LifeLines 20 years ago after Jan, a friend, asked if she could take on the task. She wrote to Leo Edwards, who was featured in the BBC documentary, and was devastated when he was executed the following year. "I remember it (the day of the execution) very clearly because I was actually going to the theatre that night in London to see the Phantom Of The Opera and I had this news in the morning. I was like a zombie that day," she said. "I couldn't cope with going to see something so trivial when something so huge had happened. "I didn't know how to cope with it and it had a very dramatic effect on me; I couldn't write to anyone for a very, very long time after that." Her language skills meant she was asked to write to a Spanish-speaking inmate, something she's been doing for almost 2 decades. He's serving life for the murder of his baby son but is now trying to get parole. "People don't want to write about their crimes because they can't change what they've done - or in some cases what they haven't done. "It was more of an issue for Leo Edwards who maintained his innocence but could not prove it, and the person I write to now he said from the beginning that he had killed his baby son while under the influence of drugs. "It is not for me to judge either of these men; my commitment was to write to them. It wasn't something you could pick up and do for a short time and then give up - you have to be prepared to take it on for the long haul. "I have been writing to him for 17 years and it means a great deal to him." (source: ThisisBath.co.uk) ITALY: Bush, during Italy visit, to shine spotlight on Sant 'Egidio group When U.S. President George W. Bush visits Rome, he will cast an unusually bright spotlight on the Sant'Egidio Community, a lay Roman Catholic organization that for 40 years has been quietly helping the poor, mediating civil wars - and fighting the death penalty. After meeting with Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday, Bush is expected to participate in a round table discussion with members of Sant'Egidio at the U.S. Embassy. On the surface, a Bush meeting with Sant'Egidio seems implausible. The organization is at the forefront of the international anti-death penalty movement, working city by city to generate support for a worldwide moratorium on capital punishment. Spokesman Mario Marazziti acknowledged there was an obvious clash of cultures regarding capital punishment. Bush allowed 152 executions while he was governor of Texas, the U.S. state that executes more inmates than any other. But Marazziti said Saturday's encounter - which the White House requested - should still be constructive. Sant'Egidio's other social justice initiatives - such as running schools for the poor, soup kitchens for the hungry and home visitations for the elderly - are the type of faith-based programs that Bush often embraces. "We will try not to be naive, to be respectful ... but at the same time sincere, to find all the ways in which poverty can be fought and human dignity can be supported," Marazziti said. One area where the 2 find common ground is fighting AIDS in Africa, and that is expected to be a focus of Saturday's discussion, Marazziti said. Bush recently urged the U.S. Congress to authorize an additional US$30 billion to fight AIDS in Africa over 5 years, doubling the current U.S. commitment for the President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief. 5 years ago, Sant'Egidio launched an AIDS project to provide free antiretroviral treatment for HIV-positive people in Africa - a staggering mission considering that sub-Saharan Africa is home to an estimated 24.7 million people with HIV. The program, which has an annual budget of US$25 million and is operational in 10 African countries, combines access to free antiretroviral drugs with follow up and home care. It has also created a network of molecular biology laboratories across Africa that are working to ensure that the virus does not become resistant to generic drugs. Sant'Egidio boasts that of the 1,500 children born to HIV-positive mothers in its program, 98 % were born without the virus, and that 95 % of the people on its program adhere to the strict drug regimen. Sant'Egidio created the DREAM program (Drug Resource Enhancement against AIDS and Malnutrition) because it rejected the notion that prevention programs were the only way to cope with Africa's HIV crisis. Many have argued that treatment programs were too expensive and complicated for Africa's HIV problem. "We could not accept a genocide," Marazziti said. "We tried to demonstrate that therapy was possible." The DREAM program first began in Mozambique, where Sant'Egidio had a long history of involvement - including mediating an end to the country's civil war. Sant'Egidio hosted the warring parties at its Rome headquarters over the course of 27 months until a peace agreement was signed in 1992. The organization's success in Mozambique propelled it into other mediating roles, including in Algeria, Guatemala and the Balkans - work that has earned it multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominations. Part Catholic charity, part non-governmental organization, part mini-United Nations, Sant'Egidio has some 50,000 volunteer members in 70 countries. Created in 1968, it relies on funding from Italian banks, the World Bank and private and corporate sponsors. On the Web: Sant'Egidio is at http://www.santegidio.org (source: Associated Press) CHINA: China reports fewer executions in 2007 Executions in China have dropped in the first 5 months of the year after the government introduced a legislation requiring the apex court to review and approve all death penalties handed down by lower courts in the country. Data from the Beijing no 1 and no 2 intermediate people's courts suggest the number of death sentences in first trials resulting in immediate execution dropped 10 % year-on-year. Spokesman for the Supreme People's Court, Ni Shouming, said the situation is similar across the country, but declined to give details. The execution figures are supposedly state secret. He stressed that both the highest court and lower-level courts are now more careful when handing out the death penalty, China Daily reported. "The lower courts have to be more prudent now. If a case is sent back for a retrial by the highest court, it not only means the first judgment is wrong, but also a matter of shame for the lower court," Ni said. >From 1981, the apex court began to grant provincial courts the authority to pronounce death sentences amid rising crime. The practice, widely criticised in recent years, came to an end on January 1 when the Supreme People's Court was given the sole power to review and ratify all death sentences. Chen Weidong, an expert on criminal law with Renmin University of China, predicted the number of death sentences will drop 20 % this year. "Leniency and more judicious use of capital punishment is the trend of the time, a concept in line with international practice," Chen said. Earlier this year, Chief Justice Xiao Yang urged "extreme caution" in handing down death sentences, saying "capital punishment should be given only to an 'extremely small number' of serious offenders". Those who plead guilty and provide important information; and those who are accomplices in a criminal case will receive lighter punishment, he said. Those involved in economic crimes would be given lighter punishment if they helped recoup losses caused to the state. "But for extremely heinous cases with iron-clad evidence, the death penalty will still be passed down," the spokesman added. Ni said the apex court had completed the first draft of a guideline on death penalty for four categories of crimes -- murder, robbery, drug trafficking and intentional injury -- which mostly resulted in the death penalty. Last year 889,042 people were convicted by Chinese courts and 153,724 received sentences of longer than 5 years. The figure includes life terms and executions. (source: Zee News) **************** China death penalty verdicts drop ---- China has the highest death penalty rate in the world China has handed out fewer death sentences in recent months, since laws governing the system were tightened up. The number of death penalties meted out in Beijing courts this year dropped by 10% from the same time last year, the China Daily newspaper said. Last November the law was changed so that only China's top court now has the power to review and ratify sentences handed down by lower courts. China is believed to carry out more executions than any other country. There had been repeated claims of miscarriages of justice since lower courts were given the right to approve the death sentence in the 1980s. New trends Ni Shouming of the Supreme Court said that figures from Beijing's lower courts showed that in the first 5 months of this year, death sentences had dropped by 10%. He told the China Daily that this trend was evident across the country. ** CHINA'S DEATH PENALTY China is believed to execute more people than rest of the world combined Non-violent crimes such as tax fraud and embezzlement carry death penalty Other crimes include murder, rape, robbery and drug offences China does not publish official figures on executions Many cases are based on confessions and trials often take less than a day, observers say ** "The lower courts have to be more prudent now," he was quoted as saying. "If a case is sent back for a retrial by the highest court, it not only means the first judgement is wrong, but also a matter of shame for the lower court." Criminal law expert, Chen Weidong, was quoted by the newspaper as saying that he expected to see executions drop by 20% in 2007. "Leniency and more judicious use of capital punishment is the trend of the time," he said. Wrongful convictions The change in the law came into effect on 1 January 2007, and meant that any death sentence handed out by a lower court must be given final approval by the Supreme Court. China's official state news agency, Xinhua, said at the time that it was one of the most important reforms of capital punishment in more than two decades. Capital punishment has a long history in China. In 2005, an estimated 1,770 executions were carried out and nearly 4,000 people were sentenced to death, human rights group Amnesty International says. But recent cases of wrongful convictions had received widespread publicity both at home and abroad, putting the Chinese authorities under pressure over the issue. (source: BBC News)
