[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 11




FRANCE:

France abolishes the death penalty in all circumstances


France has today ratified Protocol 13 to the European Convention on Human
Rights, which prohibits the use of the death penalty in all circumstances.

Ambassador Bruno Gain, the French Permanent Representative to the Council
of Europe, completed the formal ratification process on the first European
Day against the Death Penalty (10 October), organised by the Council of
Europe.

France is the 40th of the Council of Europe's 47 member states to ratify
Protocol 13, which entered into force on 1 July 2003.

Yesterday, at an international conference against the death penalty
organised by the Council of Europe, the Portuguese presidency of the
European Union and the European Commission, Council of Europe Secretary
General Terry Davis said:

"The abolition of the death penalty in Europe is the pinnacle of our
progress in the defence of human dignity and human rights. The European
Day against the Death Penalty will help us to make progress towards the
day, in a not too distant future, when the death penalty will be
eradicated throughout the world."

Council of Europe Press Division

(source: HREA)






GLOBAL:

Stop the Death Penalty: The World Decides-----Press release, 10/10/2007


On this year's World Day against the Death Penalty - 10 October, Amnesty
International is calling on the world's governments to vote for the UN
resolution on a global moratorium on executions, which will be introduced
at the current session of the UN General Assembly.

"There is a real momentum towards abolition of the death penalty," said
Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International. "A total of 133 UN
member states, from all regions in the world, have abolished the death
penalty in law or in practice. Only 25 countries carried out executions in
2006, 91percent of them in just six countries: China, Iran, Iraq,
Pakistan, Sudan and the USA. Those that chose this most cruel, inhuman and
degrading punishment are increasingly in the minority."

"Governments must endorse the UN General Assembly resolution on a global
moratorium on executions and take an important step to create a world
without executions."

Recorded executions worldwide fell by more than 25 percent in 2006, with a
drop from at least 2,148 in 2005 to at least 1,591 in 25 countries in
2006. At least 3,861 people were sentenced to death in 55 countries in
2006.

Europe is a death penalty-free zone, with the exception of Belarus. In
Central Asia, there is a clear move towards abolition. Recently,
Kyrgyzstan abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes in June 2007,
Kazakhstan has had a moratorium on executions since 2003 and Tajikistan
has had moratoria on executions and death sentences since 2004. Uzbekistan
is also taking steps towards abolition.

In Africa only 6 countries carried out executions in 2006. In March 2007,
the Ghana Minister of the Interior, Albert Kan Dapaah, announced the
commutation of 36 death sentences to life imprisonment. In April 2007 the
High Court in Malawi declared the mandatory death penalty
unconstitutional. In Nigeria in May 2007, the authorities announced that
they would grant amnesty to all prisoners over 60 years old who had spent
10 years or more under sentence of death. In July 2007 Rwanda abolished
the death penalty for all crimes. Burundi, Gabon and Mali are taking steps
towards abolition.

The USA stands alone as the only state in the Americas to have carried out
any executions since 2003.The US itself is slowly turning against the
death penalty. The 53 executions carried out in 2006 represented the
lowest annual total for a decade, and death sentences continue to drop
from its peak in the mid-1990s.

In Asia, the Philippines abolished the death penalty in 2006. There has
been some progress on reducing the death penalty in China. On 1 January
2007 the Supreme People's Court formally resumed its role of reviewing the
sentences passed in China. It is expected that this review, according to
Chinese legal scholars, would probably result in a 20 - 30 % reduction in
the total number of executions in China.

In Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia there is increasing debate about the
abolition of the death penalty. In Morocco, a Truth Commission that
concluded its work in 2005 has specifically recommended aboliton of the
death penalty.

Background

The World Day is organized by the World Coalition Against the Death
Penalty (WCADP) a coalition of over 64 organizations, including Amnesty
International, bar associations, trade unions and local and regional
authorities which have joined together in an effort to rid the world of
the death penalty. As part of the World Day, Amnesty International is
joining together with thousands of others around the world who oppose the
death penalty and support a global moratorium as a step towards abolition
of the death penalty. Amnesty International is supporting the World
Coalition against the Death Penalty's global petition, based on the 2000
UN petition launched by Community Saint Egidio in collaboration with
Amnesty International.

Further information : http://web.amnesty.org/pages/deathpenalty-index-eng

(source: Amnesty International)

********************

Guarded Optimism for Moratorium Vote


Celebrities, campaigners and leading human rights organisations gathered
here to celebrate the World Day Against the Death Penalty on Wednesday
expressed cautious optimism about a global moratorium on executions
expected to be voted on by the U.N. General Assembly in the coming weeks.

The mood at their press conference was upbeat, with campaigners and
panelists animatedly discussing how, after years of effort, this was the
"right time for the resolution".

Michel Taube, speaking on behalf of the World Coalition Against the Death
Penalty, which represents more than 64 groups working against capital
punishment, said, "(The) majority of the world is in our camp and that is
the most decisive case for us. There are many reasons to believe that the
General Assembly is ready to pass the resolution. Across continents, the
trend is toward abolition. How can the 101 countries that have abolished
the (death) penalty not stand in favour of the vote?"

Sister Helen Prejean, author of the best-selling book "Dead Man Walking",
and actors Tim Robbins and Mike Farrell, all veteran anti-death penalty
campaigners in the U.S., spoke passionately about the flaws in the capital
punishment system.

"We call for consistency in human rights. We cannot end one human rights
violation with another human rights violation, because human rights are
inalienable," Sister Prejean said at the meeting.

Robbins emphasised that no state had the right to ask a person to kill
another. "The guards who work in prisons, those who actually execute
people, face severe trauma. The death penalty retains itself as long it is
in the abstract. When you understand the human cost of the death penalty,
you can no longer support it," he said.

Earlier, Yvonne Terlingen, Amnesty International's U.N. representative,
warned that the battle for the U.N. moratorium was not yet won. "It is
still a question as to whether all the countries who have committed
(themselves) will stand up for the vote when the time comes. If there are
any amendments in the resolution, there is a chance some countries may
back down. It's going to be a tough fight. But we have reason to believe
that there will be enough votes," she told IPS.

Piers Bannister, a researcher with the death penalty team at Amnesty
International, echoed the same guarded sentiment. "It is like predicting a
sporting event. So we are cautiously optimistic. It will be problematic
for the resolution if instead of being viewed as a human rights issue, it
is viewed as a sovereignty issue," he told IPS. But he agreed that the
chances for the passing of the resolution had never been better.

Meanwhile, the collective mood of diplomats at the U.N. has also been
fairly optimistic about the final success of the EU-backed cross-regional
moratorium initiative.

Three days after the opening of the 62nd U.N General Assembly on Sep. 25,
diplomats from nearly 100 countries lined up at a ministerial meeting on
the moratorium hosted by Italy and Portugal, currently holding the EU
presidency.

Their impressive show of numbers was a clear indication that there is
increasing support for the moratorium proposal in the 192-member General
Assembly. Ninety-five countries represented at the ministerial meeting had
already pledged their support for the moratorium initiative in writing.
"For the moratorium to be adopted, 96 votes are needed," Amnesty's
Bannister told IPS.

"The death penalty belongs to a culture that should be consigned to the
past," Massimo D'Alema, Italy's minister of foreign affairs, told the
meeting. "The time is right, the conditions are right, and now we must set
realistic goals which can be achieved quickly. It would be a waste to miss
this opportunity." Italy has been campaigning for 13 years for the U.N.
General Assembly to pass a moratorium on executions.

The Philippines -- one of the few countries in Southeast Asia openly
supporting the moratorium resolution -- was represented at the ministerial
meeting by its foreign minister Alberto G. Romulo.

"Much progress has been achieved by human kind and efforts have always
been made to improve human life. Yet this barbaric practice of the death
penalty remains with us. Therefore, the Philippines will support this
resolution. We must change the paradox of making a wrong right by ending
life," Romulo said. The Philippines abolished the death penalty in June
last year.

Only 95 countries who signed a declaration of association with the
moratorium in December 2006, and those who have abolished the death
penalty, were invited to the ministerial meeting.

This meant that India and China, the world's two most populous nations,
were conspicuously absent. Both countries retain the death penalty. China
is responsible for most of the world's state executions, although the
number is said to be falling.

Also absent were representatives from the U.S., currently with an
unofficial moratorium on executions as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to
rule on whether lethal injection, the main method of execution in the
U.S., violates the constitution as "cruel and unusual punishment".

The U.S, Singapore and several other countries are expected to oppose the
moratorium on the grounds that every country has a sovereign right to
decide on this issue according to its own criminal justice system.

"The people of the different states that allow the death penalty have
chosen to not abolish it through the democratic process," Rick Grenell,
spokesman for the U.S. mission at the U.N., told IPS.

Kevin Cheok, deputy permanent representative at Singapore's U.N mission,
told IPS that even if the resolution was eventually passed, it would make
no difference to his country. "We are a sovereign nation and have the
right to make the decision for ourselves," he said.

According to a source in the U.N. General Assembly, there is no official
word on when the moratorium resolution will come up for a vote. "The draft
resolution is still on the table," Amnesty's Terlingen told IPS. But she
expected a vote "anytime after Oct. 24".

(source: IPS News)

**************************

EU voices concerns over death penalty


European Union leaders have used a global day against the death penalty to
call for a worldwide halt to capital punishment.

The Council of Europe has organised the EU's 1st anti-death penalty day
despite attempts by Poland, who have argued to also condemn euthanasia and
abortion, to stop it.

Abolishing capital punishment is a requirement for all 27 EU members, but
Poland's conservative, populist Government has often opposed the EU on
issues ranging from homosexuality to environmental protection and the
death penalty.

The secretary-general of the council, Terry Davis, explains why Europe is
against the death penalty in all cases.

"It does not deter criminals from killing people, we know that, because if
it did there would not be any murders in those states which still have the
death penalty," he said.

"And worse still, it makes terrorism more difficult to combat, because
terrorists want to be martyrs and we should not do anything which helps
them to recruit other terrorists."

The European Union says last year, more than 3,800 people were sentenced
to death in 55 countries.

(source: ABC News)






CHINA:

Death Penalty: '22-candle' vigils put spotlight on China----Amnesty groups
across the UK mark World Day against the Death Penalty


Amnesty International will be marking World Day against the Death Penalty
(10 October) with candlelit vigils across the UK to highlight the number
of people executed in China.

Amnesty groups will be holding the vigils, each with 22 candles to
symbolise the number of people that Amnesty estimates is executed every
day in China.

The death penalty is used for some 68 crimes in China, including such
offences as taking a bribe or re-selling a VAT receipt. Reliable estimates
suggest that up to 8,000 people will be executed in China over the next
year - nearly 22 every day.

Kate Allen, Director of Amnesty International UK, said: 'When China was
bidding for the Olympics the Chinese authorities stated that the Beijing
Olympics would help the development of human rights in China.

'The continuing use of the death penalty violates the fundamental human
right to life. China needs to put an end to this barbaric practice.

'In the short-term we are calling for increasing transparency. By the end
of 2008, the Chinese government must start to publish official statistics
on the total number of people sentenced to death and executed. In
addition, the number of crimes punishable by death must be dramatically
reduced.'

Amnesty members are also sending letters to the Chinese authorities
demanding an end to all executions.

(source: Amnesty International-UK)






INDIA:

Candlelight vigil against death penalty


A MOVEMENT: A child participates in a candlelight vigil organised by South
India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring to mark 'World Day
Against Death Penalty' in Bangalore on Wednesday.

BANGALORE: A candlelight vigil was observed here on Wednesday by South
India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring (SICHREM) urging the
Union Government to abolish death penalty and to sign the 2nd optional
protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR), adopted and proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1989. The
vigil is a part of worldwide campaign against death penalty on the World
Anti-Death Penalty Day being observed on Wednesday.

Holding anti-death penalty placards, over 50 volunteers, including
students, members of non-governmental organisations and others held a
candle light vigil in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue, urging the Union
Government to abolish death penalty. They said that the Home Ministry
should make public names of those facing death penalty in various jails
across the country.

SICHREM Head-Programmes R. Manohar told presspersons that the Indian
Government should begin serious introspection on continuing death penalty
and to publish statistical information about its implementation besides
declaring a moratorium on executions with a view to abolish death penalty.

A release said SICHREM opposed death penalty in all cases, as it was a
violation of the right to life and the right not to be subjected to cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment. It urged the President and the Governor to
commute the death sentence awarded to 8 persons from Karnataka, who were
lodged in Belgaum prison.

Quoting a report of Amnesty International, it said that there were 133
abolitionist countries in law or practise and only 64 retentionist
countries of which India was one.

A memorandum has been sent to President Prathiba Patil, Prime Minister M.
Manmohan Singh, Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Governor Rameshwar Thakur.

(source: The Hindu)






SOUTH KOREA:

World Day Against the Death Penalty


Approximately 300 human rights activists and religious leaders take part
in a ceremony calling for the complete abolition of the death penalty at
the Korea Press Center in Taepyung-ro, downtown Seoul, on October 10. The
event was organized to mark the World Day Against the Death Penalty.

In one part of the ceremony, high school students who are members of
Amnesty International Korea, raise ropes symbolizing the abolition of the
death penalty. Since 1997, no executions have been carried out in South
Korea and if none are carried out by the end of this year, South Korea
will be classified by international organizations as a country without
capital punishment.

(source: The Hankyoreh Media Company)

**********************************

Time to abolish the death penalty, once and for all


So wrote a man by the name of Kang Sun-cheol, in a diary entry a few days
before his execution on December 30, 1997, expressing his earnest desire
to live. Fully drunk, he had gone with a friend into a clothing factory
where he assaulted the seamstresses and then set the place ablaze. One
employee died in the fire.

Kang was arrested while peacefully sleeping at home. He was unable to
remember what had happened in the night, and insisted on his innocence.
The court found him guilty, however, and sentenced him to death. The
friend said it had been Kang who had set the fire, and got his sentenced
reduced to life. There were some people who campaigned to have his life
spared, arguing that it was possible that he had not been the perpetrator,
but it was no use.

The end of this year marks the 10th anniversary of the execution of Kang
and 22 others sentenced to death. Since then, still others have been
issued death sentences, and currently there are 64 individuals awaiting
execution. The executive branch of government has, since 1998, chosen not
to give the approval necessary to carry out those sentences. It has been
right to do so. One man, Kim Dae-jung, who was at one point in his life
sentenced to hang, was later elected president. Could there be a clearer
example of what the problems with capital punishment are?

Ultimately the decisions of the judicial system are made by people, and
decisions by human beings can never be perfect. If someone is executed for
having been found guilty and sentenced to die, there is no way to reverse
that decision once the action has been carried out. Some people think that
capital punishment needs to be kept around for perpetrators of
particularly heinous crimes. However, if you look at studies of societies
where it has been abolished, capital punishment does not especially have
the effect of preventing heinous criminal acts. You question whether
taking someone's life because that person is a criminal is something that
can be justified. It is for reasons such as these that some 90 countries
have already completely done away with it, and close to 60 have more have
moratoriums of one sort or another.

If Korea continues not to carry out executions for another one hundred
days, it becomes classified by international organizations as a country
that has essentially done away with this form of punishment. The last 2
administrations have tried in their own ways to have it abolished. We do
not think the current administration will suddenly decide to have any
executions carried out. It is time the National Assembly finish the job by
legislating it out of existence. During the last National Assembly, more
than half of the body's members signed a bill that was never dealt with,
proposing that capital punishment be abolished, and 175 legislators in the
current 17th National Assembly have joined in proposing a similar bill.
The year before last, the Assembly held a public hearing on the matter and
since then has gotten nowhere on actually considering the bill as
potential legislation. This time there must be no leaving the matter to
yet another National Assembly.

(source: Editorial, The Hankyoreh Media Company)






AFGHANISTAN:

Afghan ambassador defends executions----Resumption of death penalty a
response to growing crime, not a return to religious fanaticism, envoy
says


Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada says his government's decision to
resume executions is a reaction to growing criminality in the country and
not a sign of a return to the Islamic fundamentalism of the former Taliban
regime.

"This is not a society run by hard-core religious fanatics whose word is
higher than any other law," Omar Samad said in an interview. "This is a
society where people have all the freedoms that they didn't have 6 years
before."

On Sunday, the government of President Hamid Karzai lifted a moratorium on
the death penalty and allowed the firing-squad execution of 15 convicted
criminals, sparking an outcry from civil-rights advocates and the United
Nations.

Mr. Samad insisted Afghanistan is a profoundly different place than it was
under the Taliban, but said the Afghan public expects the government to
abide by its own constitution, which allows for capital punishment.

"We have public opinion that is very much concerned about security and
criminality and they expect the Afghan government to deliver on both
counts," Mr. Samad said. "And public opinion is very strong in this
regard.

"Afghans are looking for a more peaceful and a more just and fair society
and they hold the elected government of Afghanistan responsible," the
ambassador said. "The goal is not only to provide justice but also to be a
deterrent to others who may resort to such actions."

Public executions were common under the Taliban, which was overthrown by
the Northern Alliance in 2001, backed by a massive U.S. bombing campaign.
But Mr. Samad, who became his nation's envoy to Canada 3 years ago, said
there's no comparison between the Taliban and the Karzai government.

"There was no due process under the Taliban. The difference with the
Taliban is that they could have taken anybody off the street and accuse
them of anything and without any due process, execute them.

"Now there is due process. There is a process in place where individuals
have a right to defend themselves and the right to appeal and have the
right to [go to] the supreme court."

He said that even after the 15 defendants had gone through the appeal
system, Mr. Karzai added two additional steps in the process. First he set
up a special commission of legal experts to review the cases. When that
group reaffirmed the convictions, the President himself chaired a separate
review along with the Attorney-General and the head of the supreme court.

"The President personally is not a man who easily decides to take the life
of another human being," Mr. Samad said, "even if that human being is a
bad person."

Mr. Samad became noticeably ill at ease when asked about whether the death
penalty would apply in cases involving adultery and refused to comment on
the record.

The ambassador said Canadians should not be concerned that any of those
executed were detainees handed over by Canadian troops to Afghan
authorities. Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay insisted there is no
connection between Canada and the executions, pointing to the detainee
agreement between Ottawa and Kabul. "We have always made it clear in the
agreement, both the old one and the new one, that there are to be no
executions," Mr. MacKay told The Globe and Mail.

He indicated the question of capital punishment is for the Afghans to
decide.

"We've been very clear as a country where we stand on the issue of capital
punishment. ... This is a policy decision for Afghanistan."

(source: The Globe and Mail)






JAMAICA:

The death penalty


The Editor, Sir:

Today I read the news item regarding the Prime Minister of Italy,
Professor Romano Prodi, and his support of the abolition of the death
penalty in Jamaica, and around the world for that matter. It made me
nauseous.

Capital punishment for murder, in my view, IS a deterrent to murderers and
the push for this justice should include the addressing of the concerns of
a society plagued with senseless murders.

If the Jamaican Government wants to save the taxpayers millions of dollars
then it should consider this: once that person is convicted of the capital
crime, they should turn that criminal over to the relatives of the
murdered person. Do you want to wager with me that that would deter
murders?

I am, etc.,

D.K. BROWN

(source: Letter to the Editor, Jamaica Gleaner)






AUSTRALIA:

Death penalty state-endorsed brutality: Joyce


Outspoken Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce has waded into the debate about
the death penalty, calling it state-endorsed brutality.

The issue has been in the political spotlight after Labor's foreign
affairs spokesman Robert McClelland was given a public dressing-down by
Labor Leader Kevin Rudd for criticising Prime Minister John Howard's
support for the death penalty for the Bali bombers.

Senator Joyce says he feels it is incumbent on him to speak out against
the death penalty because he has strong philosophical views on the issue.

He says it is a state-endorsed killing of a person who poses no imminent
threat to others.

(source: ABC News)