Sept. 4
GAMBIA/USA:
Gambians in America Seek U.S. Govt Help to Halt Prisoner Executions
Following the August 23 execution of 9 death-row inmates by President Yahya
Jammeh, Gambians in Minnesota Monday marched onto the State Capitol seeking
U.S. government support to desuade the west African dictator from carrying out
any further executions of the remaining 38 condemned prisoners.
The protesters also called on the state's U.S. Senators and House
Representatives to exert pressure on Gambian authorities to abolish the death
penalty, which they claimed was being used by Yahya Jammeh as a cover for his
'human sacrifice' purposes. And as they marched onto the steps of the Capitol
building, they chanted anti-Jammeh slogans and waved placards decrying death
and torture in Banjul. One such placard reads "United States, help stop Jammeh
now!", while the other says "My president is a cannibal".
President Yahya Jammeh has vowed to execute all 47 prisoners condemned to death
by mid September. Rights group, Amnesty International and the international
community, including the west African regional bloc Ecowas, AU and the European
Union, have all pleaded with the dictator, but their efforts weren't enough to
save the 9 prisoners.
There are reports that the EU and the U.S. may consider sanctions against the
impoverished tiny west African state of 1.7 million people.
U.S.-based Gambia civil society group, CSAG and Amnesty International have
claimed most prisoners on death-row are members of the opposition and former
security officers implicated in failed 'coup attempts' and later convicted in
trials deemed not to have met international standards.
Yahya Jammeh came to power 18 years ago after overthrowing a democratically
elected government of the country's 1st post colonial president Sir Dawda
Kairaba Jawara in a military coup. His rule has all along been tainted with a
bloody human rights record, including the murder of a prominent news editor
Deyda Hydara. His government is also accused of gunning down 12 unarmed
protesting students 6 years after coming to power.
In 2006 a dozen plus security officers, including his intelligence chief Daba
Marenah are believed to have been summarily executed following a 'failed coup
attempt'. And in the same year, 52 Europe-bound west African migrants were
hacked to death by members of president Jammeh's security forces.
The Minnesota protest drew support from U.S. citizens, Guineans in the States
and Senegales nationals. Notable among the protesters were Gambian rights
activits and journalists Yero Jallow and Fatou Jaw Manneh. Minneapolis-based
Sierra-Leonean journalist Isa Mansareh was also in attendance. The protest
leader was a respected community leader Papa Faal.
Local television channels Fox 9 News and WCCO News covered the demonstration.
Similar events will be held on Tuesday in New York and Washington.
(source: SeneGambia News)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Julian Assange: UK rejects death penalty claim -- Mr Assange has been at
Ecuador's London embassy since June
Claims Wikileaks founder Julian Assange could face the death penalty in the US
are "without foundation", Foreign Secretary William Hague has indicated.
Ecuador has granted Mr Assange asylum as he fights extradition from the UK to
Sweden over sex assault allegations.
Mr Hague told MPs the UK and Sweden would seek assurances about his human
rights if a "third country" sought to try him for disclosing documents.
He called for further meetings with Ecuador to resolve the row.
Mr Assange, a 41-year-old Australian citizen, denies assaulting 2 women in
Stockholm in 2010 and says the sex was consensual.
Death penalty safeguards
Swedish prosecutors, who want to question Mr Assange, have dismissed his claims
that their case is part of a wider political move to see him stand trial in the
US over his work with Wikileaks.
Mr Assange has said he fears he could face the death penalty if convicted in
the US, but BBC correspondents say the Human Rights Act prevents the UK or
Sweden from being able to extradite people for trial in countries where they
could face such a sentence.
And in a written statement to Parliament, Mr Hague said: "As we have discussed
with the government of Ecuador, the United Kingdom and Sweden robustly
implement and adhere to the highest standards of human rights protection.
"The suggestion that Mr Assange's human rights would be put at risk by the
possibility of onward extradition from Sweden to a third country is also
without foundation.
"In practice, this means that the United Kingdom could only consent to Mr
Assange's onward extradition from Sweden to a third country if satisfied that
extradition would be compatible with his human rights, and that there was no
prospect of a death sentence being imposed or carried out."
Supreme Court rejection
Mr Assange has been staying at Ecuador's London embassy since June.
The UK Supreme Court dismissed his bid to reopen his appeal against extradition
and gave him a two-week grace period - during which he entered the embassy in
Knightsbridge, west London - before proceedings could start.
Mr Hague said suggestions that extradition to Sweden posed a risk to Assange's
human rights were also "completely unfounded" and had been "comprehensively
rejected" by UK courts.
He added there was "no legal basis" for the government to accept Ecuador's
decision to grant Mr Assange asylum and allow him safe passage out of the UK.
The foreign secretary said there had been 7 formal discussions as well as many
other conversations and written exchanges with Ecuador in an attempt to reach
an acceptable resolution.
Most recently, Mr Hague had a meeting with Ecuador's Vice-President, Lenin
Moreno, on 29 August in London, during his visit to the Paralympics.
Mr Hague said: "We wish to continue our dialogue with the government of
Ecuador. We believe that our two countries should be able to find a diplomatic
solution.
"We have invited the government of Ecuador to resume, as early as possible, the
discussions we have held on this matter to date."
A spokesman for the Ecuadorian government in London said Mr Hague's statement
only partially addressed its concerns and did not "specifically" refer to the
US.
"While we accept that there are provisions in the European Human Rights
Convention that stops the extradition of a suspect if they face the death
penalty, what the UK government have failed to address over the last 3 months,
including today, is the inhumane treatment that Mr Assange would face were he
to be extradited to the USA, including solitary confinement for 23 hours a day,
limited access to legal representatives and punitive sentencing should he be
found guilty in a military of special court," he said.
"If the UK provided these basic human rights guarantees then we believe that
there would be a quick, fair and honourable solution to the present impasse."
(source: BBC News)
SRI LANKA:
Sri Lanka to have 2 hangmen for death penalty
Sri Lanka hopes to have 2 hangmen ready to carry out the death penalty if it is
implemented, a top prison official said on Tuesday.
Commissioner General of Prisons P.W.Kodippili told Xinhua that the interview
process to recruit the hangmen was complete and the 2 hangmen will be selected
within the next few days.
"Of the several applications we received we conducted interviews and selected
10 out of the final lot. From that we hope to select 2 people to appoint them
as hangmen," Kodippili said.
Sri Lanka does not implement the death penalty but with over 1, 000 people on
death row and an increase in crime reported over the past few years there has
been strong speculation that the death penalty will be re-introduced.
"That is a policy decision and not in the hands of my department," Kodippili
said when asked if the finalizing of the hangman's post will see the immediate
reintroduction of the death penalty.
The government has said that the death penalty will be introduced against drug
traffickers and rapists as well.
The death penalty has not been implemented in Sri Lanka since 1976 but several
people have been sentenced to death by local courts even this year.
Following a murder of a judge in 2004, the country reinstated the death penalty
but no president has ratified it and so the death sentence is automatically
commuted to life imprisonment.
(source: Global Times)
IRAQ:
Iraq: Lack of Transparency in 26 Executions ---- Torture, Fair Trial Concerns
Require Immediate Moratorium
Iraq carried out at least 26 executions on August 27 and 29, 2012, but provided
few details about the identity of those executed or the charges against them.
The Justice Ministry has announced 96 executions so far in 2012.
Those executed included one Saudi and 1 Syrian citizen and 3 women. Authorities
said that all had been convicted on charges "related to terrorism," but
provided little information about what crimes they had committed. Human Rights
Watch has previously documented the prevalence of unfair trials and torture in
detention, particularly in national security and terrorism-related cases.
"There is no doubt that Iraq still has a serious terrorism problem, but it also
has a huge problem with torture and unfair trials," said Joe Stork, deputy
Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The lack of transparency around
these convictions and executions, in a country where confessions that may have
been coerced are often the only evidence against a person, makes it crucial for
Iraq to declare an immediate moratorium on all executions."
Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances because it is
unique in its cruelty and finality, and is plagued with arbitrariness,
prejudice, and error.
Iraqi authorities rarely announce executions beforehandand have not made public
the total number of executions in a given year, Human Rights Watch said.
An August 30 statement released by Iraq's parliament said that members of the
Human Rights Committee had met on the previous day to discuss "a mechanism for
slowing down executions." Members told Iraqi media that they had contacted
Justice Minister Hassan al-Shimmari to inquire about concerns expressed this
week by politicians and nongovernmental organizations that executions of about
200 prisoners now on death-row were being accelerated in anticipation of the
passage of an amnesty law currently before parliament. Al-Shimmari denied these
claims.
On August 29, Human Rights Watch spoke with 2 Justice Ministry officials as
well as a guard in a prison run by the ministry and an inmate currently in
another facility. All said that hundreds of inmates had begun hunger strikes on
August 28 in Baghdad???s Taji and Rusafa prisons to protest the recent
executions and concern about the alleged plan to accelerate other executions.
According to the inmate, guards had told prisoners about such a plan in the
days preceding the latest executions. Human Rights Watch could not confirm the
existence of such a plan.
On July 27, Iraq's Interior Ministry announced that the Court of Cassation had
upheld death sentences for 196 prisoners in Anbar province, drawing strong
criticism from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on arbitrary executions.
According to the United Nations, more than 1,200 people are believed to have
been sentenced to death in Iraq since 2004. The number of prisoners executed
during that period has not been revealed publicly. Iraqi law authorizes the
death penalty for close to 50 crimes, including terrorism, kidnapping, and
murder, but also including such offenses as damage to public property.
"The government should disclose the identities, locations, and status of all
prisoners on death row, the crimes for which they have been convicted, the
evidence supporting their conviction, and details of any impending executions,"
Stork said.
International human rights law requires that where the death penalty has not
been abolished, it should be imposed only in cases for the most serious crimes
and after scrupulous adherence tointernational fair trial standards, including
the rights of the defendant to competent defense counsel, to be presumed
innocent until proven guilty, and not to be compelled to confess guilt.
Criminal trials in Iraq often violate these minimum guarantees, Human Rights
Watch said. Many defendants are unable to pursue a meaningful defense or to
challenge evidence against them, and lengthy pretrial detention without
judicial review is common.
(source: Human Rights Watch)
****************************
ECR member calls for suspension of death penalty in Iraq
"This is an issue of huge importance"--Struan Stevenson; Senior UK deputy
Struan Stevenson has voiced 'shock' at a recent upsurge in executions in Iraq.
His comments come after 26 people were executed last week alone, including 21
in a single day.
There are growing fears that others might be executed in the coming days.
The Scottish MEP, who chairs parliament's delegation for relations with Iraq,
says he shares the concerns voiced recently by Navanethem Pillay, the UN high
commissioner for human rights, about the increase.
EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton has also expressed concern about the
increase in executions in Iraq, saying it goes against the worldwide trend
towards the abolition of the death penalty.
On Tuesday, Stevenson said, "These latest executions bring the total number of
people executed in Iraq this year to at least 96, a significant and worrying
increase compared to last year when 68 executions were recorded in the country.
"Since the death penalty was reintroduced in Iraq in 2004, hundreds of people
have been sentenced to death and are now on death row."
The ECR deputy added, "Many of the trials of those sentenced to death have
failed to meet international fair trial standards, including by allowing
"confessions" obtained under torture or other ill-treatment to be used as
evidence against those accused."
He added, "I join the UN in expressing my shock at the number of executions and
the lack of transparency in court proceedings."
Calling for an immediate suspension of the death penalty, the Tory said, "I
fully support the engagement of the UN and of the international community in
fighting against such arbitrary killing of people, even when it is hidden
behind flawed legal processes.
"Consequently, I firmly ask Iraq to renounce torture and extorted confessions,
to guarantee fair legal processes and to introduce a moratorium on the use of
the death penalty, with a view to its abolition."
Before the summer break, Stevenson called for more efforts to secure basic
human rights for Iranian refugees who are threatened by persecution at the
hands of the Iraqi government.
He also called for the safe future for 3,200 members of the democratic Iranian
opposition being held at Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty near Baghdad, in Iraq.
Describing the current situation as "dire", he said, "This is an issue of huge
importance to the thousands of people of Iranian origin."
(source: theparliament.com)
TAIWAN:
Taiwan Verdict Exposes Death Penalty Dangers
The end of Taiwan's most controversial death penalty case this week has
"punctured the myth that the judicial system never makes mistakes in death
penalty cases," Judicial Reform Foundation (JRF) executive director Lin
Feng-cheng told IPS.
A panel of three High Court judges overturned murder convictions and capital
sentences Aug. 31 against the so-called 'Hsichih Trio' after 21 years of legal
battles. Supporters of human rights and opponents of the death penalty gathered
at the Taiwan High Court Criminal Appeals building cheered after Su You-chen,
chairman of the Chinese Association for Human Rights, announced the "not
guilty" verdicts for Su Chien-ho, Chuang Lin-hsun and Liu Bin-lang.
The case began on Mar. 23, 1991 when a couple, Wu Ming-han and his wife Yeh
Ying-lan, living in Hsichih township near Taipei City were found robbed and
murdered, having been stabbed 79 times.
On Aug. 13 1991, Wang Wen-hsiao, a neighbour then serving in Taiwan's Marines,
was detained and then formally arrested 2 days later, based on a fingerprint
found at the murder scene.
Wang initially confessed to have conducted the killings alone, but police
doubted that Wang could have killed the couple by himself.
During interrogations by Hsichih precinct police, Wang named three other
19-year-old associates, Su Chien-ho, Chuang Lin-hsun and Liu Bin-lang for
helping him murder the couple after robbing their home and raping Yeh.
The 3 suspects confessed to the crimes to the police and were charged with
murder under the Act for the Control and Punishment of Banditry at the time,
which provided for mandatory death sentences.
Wang was convicted in military court and executed on Jan. 11, 1992 and never
directly faced Su and the other 2 suspects.
After judges refused to accept their claims to have made false confessions
under torture, Su, Liu and Chuang were convicted in the Shihlin district court
on Feb. 18, 1992 and lost 2 appeals to the High Court before the Supreme Court
finalised their guilty verdicts and imposed death sentences on Feb. 9, 1995.
Although they would normally have been executed within 3 days, then justice
minister (and now president and ruling Chinese Nationalist Party chairman) Ma
Ying-jeou refused to sign the execution orders, returning the case to the
Supreme Court due to the lack of direct evidence.
The Control Yuan, Taiwan's watchdog branch of government, launched a probe into
the Su Chien-ho case in March 1995 that found numerous errors in the
investigation and trial proceedings by the Hsichih police bureau, the Shihlin
district court and the High Court.
The "Hsichih Trio" or "Su Chien-ho" case became the focus of a major global
human rights campaign, and spurred the drive by Taiwan civil society groups to
push for the abolition of the death penalty.
A turning point came in June 2008 when renowned criminologist Henry Lee
Chang-yi undertook a detailed investigation of the crime scene and forensic
data on behalf of the defendants and concluded that "it is extremely likely
that this case was committed by Wang Wen-hsiao alone."
"This critical forensic research came about because of civil society efforts
and not the court," Judicial Reform Foundation executive director Lin
Feng-cheng told IPS. "It was only because this case attracted too much
attention and even became the subject of an international campaign were we able
to persuade Henry Lee to come here."
Speaking for the trio, Su Chien-ho said "21 years of trials and retrials has
turned us into middle-aged men and our youth is long gone, but we now only have
feelings of gratitude and hope to return to normal lives."
"Senior judicial officials continue to attempt to persuade society that the
judicial system never makes mistakes and this myth has blinded many people, but
the Su Chien-ho case is an example of a finalized death penalty verdict that
was overturned and shown to be wrong," the JRF spokesman told IPS.
"If their death penalty verdicts had been implemented, they would have been
executed just like Chiang Kuo-ching" - an Air Force private wrongfully executed
in August 1997 after confessing under torture to a rape-murder, said Lin. "This
fact shows how frightening the death penalty truly is."
President Ma, who as president has overseen the ending of a nearly 5-year
moratorium on the death penalty with 9 executions, told reporters Aug. 31 that
he hoped that there would never again be such a case and that there would no
longer be cases in which confessions were obtained through improper means from
suspects.
(source: Inter Press Service)
LIBYA:
Israeli actress: Save life of my lover Saif Gaddafi -- Orly Weinerman has
reportedly urged Tony Blair to help save Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, her "discreet"
lover facing the death penalty.
Israeli actress Orly Weinerman reportedly has urged Tony Blair to help save the
life of her "discreet" lover, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.
The Daily Mail, a British tabloid, quoted Weinerman, 41, as saying that Blair
-- a former British prime minister and now envoy of the Middle East Quartet
diplomatic grouping -- was an "old friend" of Saif al-Islam, the son of the
late ruler of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is facing the death penalty in Libya, where he is on
trial for his role in the killing of protesters during last year's uprising
against his father.
Weinerman "dated" Saif al-Islam for 6 years, after meeting him in London in
2005, the tabloid reported.
The paper quotes her as saying that "Saif worked closely with Mr. Blair before
he was captured. The tw2 are old friends."
The Daily Mail added that the Israeli actress said her "discreet relationship"
with Saif al-Islam, whose name means "sword of Islam," began in April 2005 when
they were introduced by mutual friends.
Weinerman's parents were opposed to her converting to Islam, she said.
"The fact that Saif was prepared to involve himself in a loving relationship
with a Jew is a measure of how open and civilized he is," she told the tabloid.
"He judged people for what they are, not what people perceive them to be. Saif
never made an issue of my religion or the country I came from."
Weinerman previously had denied having any contact with Saif after publications
including Germany's Der Spiegel reported their romance in 2006.
On Monday night, after her revelation had been reported in the Hebrew press,
Weinerman posted a link to the Daily Mail story on her Facebook page and wrote:
"I challenge you to lend me a hand and save another victim from hatred,
prejudice and moral corruption."
(source: Jerusalem Post)
PAKISTAN:
Pakistani President Seeks Report On Girl's Blasphemy Case
Pakistan's president has called on officials to explain the arrest on blasphemy
charges of a Christian girl with Down syndrome.
The girl -- reportedly just 11 or 12 years old -- allegedly burned pages
inscribed with verses from the Koran.
Police said the girl, Rimsha, was arrested in a Christian slum of Islamabad on
August 16 and remanded in custody for 14 days.
A crowd of angry Muslims had demanded she be punished.
State-run media reports said President Asif Ali Zardari has taken "serious
note" of the case and called on the Interior Ministry to submit a report.
Some reports suggested the girl had been burning papers collected from the
rubbish for cooking when someone entered her house and accused the family of
burning pages inscribed with verses from the Koran.
Rimsha's house was locked from the outside on August 20 and no one was at home,
a reporter for the AFP news agency said. Neighbors were reluctant to speak
about the incident, saying that they had not witnessed the alleged desecration
themselves.
A senior official of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, Tahir Naveed
Chaudhry, told AFP that Christians who fled for shelter with relatives
elsewhere in Islamabad were now gradually returning to the slum called
Mehrabad.
The girl has Down syndrome -- a condition which causes various degrees of
learning difficulties -- and is not yet a teenager.
The Women's Action Forum, a leading Pakistani organization fighting for the
rights of women, condemned Rimsha's arrest.
Spokeswoman Tahira Abdullah demanded her immediate release and expressed
outrage at the "total inhumanity" of the men who lodged the case with police.
The 2011 assassinations of a leading Pakistani politician and a Christian
cabinet minister have been linked to their public opposition to strict
antiblasphemy laws. They had taken up the plight of a Christian mother
sentenced to death for blasphemy in late 2010. She remains in prison.
The murders renewed concerns about religious intolerance in Pakistan, where
minority groups have faced numerous attacks by militants of the Sunni Muslim
majority.
Last month, a mob snatched a mentally unstable man from a village police
station and beat him to death in central Punjab Province after he allegedly
burned pages from a Koran.
Under the blasphemy laws, a conviction for defaming Islam or desecrating the
Koran can be punishable by death.
(source: Radio Free Europe)
SAUDI ARABIA----execution
Pakistani man executed in Saudi Arabia for drug trafficking
A Pakistani man was executed Tuesday morning in the Saudi city of Medina after
convicted of smuggling a large quantity of heroin in his stomach.
The Interior Ministry revealed in a statement that the executed man was Hayat
Sayed Lal Sayed. No further details were released about his age or when he was
arrested.
The ministry said the capital punishment was given to fight drug addiction and
to respect the religious values, warning that others will get the same
punishment if convicted for the same charge.
Human rights organizations have been criticizing Saudi Arabia for death penalty
cases, as courts here sentence capital punishment for murder, drug trafficking,
rape, apostasy and armed robbery.
(sources: Xinhua-ANI)
SOUTH KOREA:
Korea retains death penalty but none executed since '97
Korea is classified by Amnesty International vis-a-vis the death penalty as an
"abolitionist in practice."
The country has carried out no executions since December 1997. After taking
office in early 1998, then President Kim Dae-jung halted the implementation of
capital punishment though courts continued to give out death sentences.
Korea has 60 inmates on death row and the figure will rise to 61 if the death
sentence for Oh Won-chun, who was convicted in his 1st trial for kidnapping and
murdering a young woman, is upheld. Two death row inmates committed suicide in
prison in 2009 and one did so last year.
The death penalty had seldom been discussed under the administrations led by
Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, but has been a number of times by the incumbent
Lee Myung-bak administration. In 2007, then presidential candidate Lee said in
a media interview, "The death penalty should be maintained considering the
nation's responsibility to prevent crimes." Accordingly, prospects grew that
policies related to the death penalty would be devised while President Lee was
in office.
After an 8-year-old girl was violently raped by Cho Doo-soon in 2008, certain
media reported in 2010 that the president was seriously examining the
resumption of capital punishment. The Justice Ministry sentenced five people to
death and made up a list of criminals primarily subject to execution, including
serial murderers Yoo Yeong-cheol, Jeong Nam-kyu (who committed suicide) and
Kang Ho-soon.
The presidential office opposed this, however, over fear of diplomatic
conflict. In February 2010, the Constitutional Court of Korea ruled that the
death penalty is not unconstitutional but no executions have been carried out
since then.
Most of the world is leaning toward abolition of capital punishment. The United
Nations estimates that around 150 countries have now either abolished the death
penalty in law or practice or introduced a moratorium. In July this year, U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged an end to the death penalty. Abolition of
capital punishment is a condition for entry into the European Union. The U.S.
abolished the death penalty in 1972 but reinstated it in 1976 due to the rise
in brutal crimes, but the number of executions and death sentences has
declined.
(source: English Donga)
***********************
Gov't may resume executions
The government is considering resuming executions of inmates on death row in a
bid to counter rising cases of 1st-degree murders and rapes against minors.
A presidential aide told reporters Monday that the government needs a social
consensus on whether to resume execution, indicating that it would follow
public opinions in deciding on the matter.
"That's not a matter that only the government can resolve. It's a public
issue," a senior Cheong Wa Dae official said on condition of anonymity. "There
should be discussions on whether executions can deter crimes first. There
should be a social consensus to resume execution."
The comments suggest that the country may drop its moratorium on execution amid
public uproar over a series of killings of children and women in recent weeks.
Recent online polls show more than 60 % of South Koreans want the county to
resume execution.
The country has not carried out an execution since 23 murder convicts were
executed on Dec. 30, 1997, although courts still sentence the death penalty.
Currently, 60 convicts are on death row. 2 inmates on death row committed
suicide in prison in 2009 and one another in 2011.
Advocates of children's rights and women's groups have launched public
campaigns to call for resumption of execution.
Dozens of female activists held a rally in Myeong-dong, central Seoul, Sunday,
in which they criticized the government for wasting taxpayers' money on feeding
and protecting child rapists and murderers.
"They are beasts, not humans. Don't spend our money on feeding them," they said
in a statement. "The government should execute them and remove them from
society as quickly as possible. That's the only way to prevent such heinous
crimes."
Lee Young-ran, a law professor of Sookmyung Women's University, said reviving
execution can be effective in deterring crimes.
"The death penalty is the strongest punitive measure the country can take
against a criminal. It is a legitimate measure. It's against the law to delay
execution," Lee said. "Resuming execution should be positively considered
because it can make our society safer from criminals."
Hur Joo-wook, a professor of Kangwon National University, proposed a referendum
on resuming execution.
"Resuming execution is not only a domestic issue, but a matter that can affect
Korea's international reputation and status," Hur said. "But many Koreans think
keeping inmates on death row alive is against public interests. We can resolve
this decade-old issue by putting it to a vote."
One of the reasons the country has maintained a moratorium on execution is that
there is an international pressure.
In 2007, Amnesty International categorized South Korea as a country that has
"virtually abolished capital punishment." However, U.N Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon urged the country in July to abolish the death penalty, saying it
violates human rights.
According to the Justice Ministry, there are no European Union member nations
that have the death penalty. The United States abolished capital punishment in
1972, but revived it in 1976. There are currently some 90 countries that view
executions as illegal.
(source: Korea Times)
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