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

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 24



ASIA:

Death penalty continues in most Asian countries


Death penalty was reported to be abolished by 27 countries in law.
However, 14 countries continue to carry out executions where people on
death row live in total isolation and are banned from talking to other
prisoners and contact family and lawyers.

ASIA ALONE represents 60 % of the world's population and 95 % of this
population lives in a country where death penalty is still awarded. But
there are facts too: 27 countries have already abolished the death penalty
in law or in practice while 14 countries continue to carry out executions.

Significant changes are taking place in some of these countries. Japan,
for instance, has increased the rate of executions, while others are
moving towards abolition. For example, Taiwan, has suspended executions
since 2005, and South Korea has not carried out executions for 10 years.
Amnesty International classified South Korea as abolitionist in practice.
Others, like the Philippines, in 2006, abolished capital punishment for
all crimes.

The situation also varies greatly in terms of figures. In China alone, 470
executions were recorded by Artificial Intelligent (AI) in 2007, but this
number is based on public reports available and serves as an absolute
minimum. The US-based organisation 'Dui Hua Foundation' estimates that
6,000 people were executed last year based on figures obtained from local
officials. India, on the other hand, has only executed one person in the
last 10 years.

Nonetheless, common trends in the application of the death penalty emerge
all over Asia:

In 2006, a report on transparency and the death penalty, the UN special
rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip
Alston, stated that "countries that have maintained the death penalty are
not prohibited by international law from making that choice, but they have
a clear obligation to disclose the details of their application of the
penalty". Nevertheless, many Asian countries refuse to reveal information
on the use of this punishment. In China, for example, the death penalty is
a state secret and no figures on the numbers of death sentences or
executions are available.

In Japan, executions of death sentences are carried out in secret. People
on death row live in total isolation, they are banned from talking to
other prisoners and contact with the outside world is limited to
infrequent and supervised visits from family and lawyers. They are not
allowed to watch television or engage in personal interests or hobbies.
They are notified of their execution only a few hours before it takes
place and their families are not informed. Some prisoners, thus, spend
decades under sentence of death, waking up every morning with the fear of
an imminent execution. The lack of transparency also increases the risks
of unfair trials and prevents informed debate on the death penalty in
these countries.

In many cases the accused cannot access adequate legal representation,
trials are held in secret, or deadlines are so short that there is no time
to appeal. In Pakistan, parallel judicial system and anti-terrorism courts
deprive the accused of adequate defence and this results in a considerable
number of death sentences being handed down. Appeals for presidential
pardons remain limited. In murder cases the law is discriminatory against
disadvantaged people, as in accordance with the Islamic Diyya custom,
those sentenced to death may "compensate" their punishment to the families
of their victim by paying them "blood money". Thus, only the richest and
most influential Pakistanis escape the death penalty.

In a large number of countries, the death penalty may be used as
punishment for dozens of non-violent crimes: the death penalty is provided
for approximately 160 offences in south Korea, 68 in China and 27 in
Pakistan. Some of these crimes are non-violent, like tax evasion or drug
trafficking. In Vietnam, 29 offences are punishable by death, including
non-violent ones such as embezzlement, smuggling, forgery, offering and
accepting bribes and drug production or trafficking. In total, one third
of sentences are linked to drugs and last year over 80 people were
sentenced to death for this crime alone. In Singapore, drug smuggling is
automatically punishable by death, even for possession of a few grams of
drugs.

Over the last few years, the total figures of death sentences and
executions have decreased in Asia. Across the continent, periods of
moratorium (ie the temporary suspension of executions) are longer and more
frequent.

In Taiwan, the new President and the new minister of justice have stated
their personal opposition to the death penalty and have promised not to
sign any execution orders. In South Korea, the last execution was carried
out in 1997, but more than 50 prisoners remain on death row. In India,
although there is no official moratorium on executions, the last execution
the only 1 in 10 years  took place in 2004.

Alongside this reduction in the number of executions, there are more and
more organised Asian activists in favour of the abolition of the death
penalty. The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) launched on World Day
2006, currently has more than 40 members in the region. These changes are
signs of hope for a death penalty-free Asia.

(source: MeriNews)