Feb. 19
GLOBAL:
Which countries have the death penalty and how many people are executed in the
world each year?----A handful of countries still carry out a vast number of
killings
In the past decades many countries have abolished the death penalty - but some
nations still execute people.
Human rights group Amnesty International, which has been campaigning on the
issue since 1977, says 141 countries have abolished the death sentence in law
or practice.
A total of 57 countries retain the death penalty in law, according to Amnesty,
while executions were recorded in 23 nations in their statistics for 2016.
A variety of methods are used, including hanging, shooting, lethal injection
and beheading.
Because of the ongoing conflicts, Amnesty was unable to confirm whether
executions were carried out in Syria, Libya and Yemen.
The Middle East and North Africa region accounted for the vast majority of all
recorded executions, thanks largely to Iran and Saudi Arabia.
How many people were executed?
Amnesty International found that at least 3,117 people were sentenced to death
in 2016 across 55 countries - the highest number ever recorded in a single
year.
At least 18,848 people were known to be under a sentence of death worldwide at
the end of 2016.
But the actual numbers of recorded executions carried out - 1,032 - dropped by
37 % compared to 2015, when 1,634 were killed.
Nearly 90 % of these happened in just four countries: Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and
Saudi Arabia - but these figures exclude China and North Korea, where numbers
remain a state secret.
Amnesty names China as the world's top executioner but the true extent of the
use of the death penalty there is unknown as the stats are a state secret.
Campaigners protest against the death sentence
Iraq more than tripled its executions as it continued to battle ISIS, while
Egypt and Bangladesh more than doubled the numbers of people they killed.
On the other hand, the number of executions carried out in the US his its
lowest number for 25 years.
The country failed to make the world's top 5 executioners for the 1st time
since 2006.
But this has been put down to drug shortages and legal challenges against the
death penalty.
What states in America still have the death penalty? There are currently 31
states in the US that still use capital punishment, compared to 19 where it has
been abolished or overturned.
Almost 3,000 inmates are currently on death row in the US, according to the
latest statistics, with each spending an average of 15 years waiting to be
executed.
There have been 1,467 executions in America since 1976.
Which US states DO have the death penalty?
Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Washington
Wyoming
When was it abolished in the UK?
The last person to be sentenced to death in the Britain were Peter Anthony
Allen and Gwynne Owen Evans - real name John Robson Walby - in 1964.
They had knifed a friend to death for money. The executions taking place
simultaneously at 8am on August 13.
Public anger led to the suspension of executions in 1965 and they were
abolished in 1969.
Technically, the death penalty could still be imposed for offences including
treason, violent piracy or certain military crimes until 1998, but no
executions took place.
Ukip leader Paul Nuttall has previously said he would have a referendum on
bringing back the death penalty.
(source: The Sun)
JAPAN:
Death penalty sought for Peruvian man charged with string of 6 slayings in
Saitama
Prosecutors on Monday demanded the death penalty for a 32-year-old Peruvian man
accused of killing 6 people, including 2 girls, after breaking into their
suburban homes north of Tokyo in 2015.
Lawyers defending Vayron Jonathan Nakada Ludena at the Saitama District Court
argue he is not mentally fit to stand trial.
Nakada Ludena broke into 3 homes in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, in September
2015 to steal money and valuable items and killed the occupants, according to
the indictment.
The victims were Minoru Tasaki, 55, his wife, Misae, 53, Kazuyo Shiraishi, 84,
and 41-year-old Miwako Kato and her 2 daughters, 10-year-old Misaki and
7-year-old Haruka.
Nakada Ludena was arrested on Oct. 8 the same year in connection with the
deaths of the Tasakis, after being hospitalized following his plunge from a
2nd-floor window at Kato's home on Sept. 16. Police subsequently served him
with further arrest warrants related to the other victims.
Prosecutors said his actions were "extremely cruel and merciless" and "it can
be rationally surmised that he broke into the houses to steal money and goods
and killed to eliminate obstacles."
"The defendant hasn't shown regret or even the least sense of propriety. This
makes me furious," Kato's 45-year-old husband said at the trial.
(source: Japan Times)
PAKISTAN:
Pakistan's growing obsession for public executions
Lawyers, government officials, lawmakers and parents of the victim by and large
demand public execution for the convict Imran Ali in rape and murder case of
7-year-old Zainab. But isn't it enough to hand over 4 separate death sentences
for conviction in kidnapping, rape, murder and terrorism charges?
From the grieving mother of Zainab to Senate, there is a rising consent to
publicly execute the convict. The national narrative in mainstream media too
suggests it is the only way to stop crimes of child abuse.
Pakistan had lifted a 7-year moratorium on capital punishments after the tragic
terrorist attack on a Peshawar school that claimed the lives of 132 children.
Executions were resumed for all death penalty offences, not for terror convicts
alone.
The call for public hangings, introduced by Gen Ziaul Haq, is primarily raised
to make it serve as deterrence for future crimes. But research tells otherwise.
In 2016 study titled "The Fall of Capital Punishment and the Rise of Prisons:
How Punishment Severity Affects Jury Verdicts", authors Bindler and Hjalmarsson
argued that there is no or only little evidence of a deterrence effect of
capital punishment. David Phillips studied the deterrent effect of publicized
London executions in the latter half of the 19th century to find it has no
long-term impact to stop the homicides.
Christopher Kudlac noted in his book "Public executions: The death penalty and
the media" that media coverage also influences the demand for executions to be
made public, in view of the rising sentiments of hatred against certain cases
of crime as happened in Zainab's case. In newsworthy crimes, public sentiments
and attitudes change overtime, he wrote.
Despite Pakistan's law not allowing executions to be made publicly, the
provincial prosecution in Punjab has suggested to the government that it is
possible. The Punjab Assembly is being pressurised by several legislators to
pass amendment in the law to make space for the populist demand.
Muhammad Ahmad Pansota, a legal expert, had opined that justice will not be
served when the very nature of the punishment is both barbaric and ineffective.
Pansota argued that victim's families will be less likely to report crimes
related to child sex abuse when the perpetrators are either family members or
known to the victim, which happens in a significant number of cases.
Witnessing public executions can have adverse effects on the psycho-social
well-being of people, especially children. In 2013, bloggers and civil society
in Iran had criticized public hangings when there were reports of children
being traumatized psychologically after watching such violence. Symptoms of
dissociative disorder emerged in journalists when they witnessed executions,
according to American Journal of Psychiatry study.
A study published in Criminal Justice and Behavior concluded that people are
likely to reverse their support for death penalty itself after watching the
executions, leading to the demand for changes in death penalty policy.
Jimmy Carter writes in his book that execution desensitizes the people to
violence and immorality of killing, increasing the probability that some people
will be motivated to kill others.
According to Amnesty International report of 2016, public executions were only
carried out in 2 countries: Iran and North Korea. It is widely believed that
sex education is the only way to curb violent crimes against children. Child
sexual abuse is extremely under-reported due to lack of awareness. If Pakistan
is to clamp down on such crimes against children, the authorities have to
spread awareness about human sexuality, reproduction and adolescence.
(source: dunyanews.tv)
GAMBIA:
Gambia announces 'moratorium' on death penalty
Gambian President Adama Barrow announced on Sunday a suspension of the death
penalty in his country, in a break from the former regime of the dictator Yahya
Jammeh.
Barrow, a onetime security guard in London who was elected president in
December 2016, signed a UN treaty on the abolition of capital punishment last
year.
"I will use this opportunity to declare a moratorium on the use of the death
penalty in the Gambia, as a 1st step towards abolition," Barrow said in a
speech marking the 53rd anniversary of independence from Britain.
Jammeh ruled Gambia, a small English-speaking country surrounded by Senegal and
a narrow Atlantic coastline, with an iron fist for 22 years.
The death penalty was last used under Jammeh in 2012, when nine soldiers were
executed by firing squad.
Jammeh later threatened to expand a list of capital crimes in response to what
he said was a rising crime rate.
Barrow said Sunday: "We have won the war against dictatorship, which is the
easy part. Maintaining the peace for our democracy to thrive will be our utmost
challenge."
He added that "mistakes will be made, but we will correct them as we work
towards perfecting the New Gambia."
Francophone west African nations such as Benin, the Republic of Congo and
Guinea have all taken steps to end the death penalty in recent years, but
English-speaking countries in the region have lagged behind.
Activists hope more states will follow Gambia's example.
(source: Daily mail)
CHINA:
Urgent Action
DEATH SENTENCE OF VETERAN ACTIVIST UPHELD
Xu Youchen is facing imminent execution after the Henan Provincial Higher
People???s Court rejected his appeal and upheld his conviction and death
sentence. The Supreme People's Court will review the case and if it approves
the lower court???s decision he will be executed. In his appeal, Xu Youchen has
testified to being tortured to "confess" to the crime.
Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:
* Immediately halt plans to carry out Xu Youchen's execution;
* Grant Xu Youchen a retrial in proceedings that fully comply with
international standards for a fair trial and without recourse to the death
penalty and ensure that Xu Youchen is not subjected to torture or other
ill-treatment;
* Immediately establish a moratorium on all executions with a view to
abolishing the death penalty, in line with six UN General Assembly resolution
adopted since 2007, and commute all existing death sentences.
Friendly reminder: If you send an email, please create your own instead of
forwarding this one!
Contact these 2 officials by 28 March, 2018:
Secretary of the Central Politics and Legal Affairs Commission of the Communist
Party of China
Guo Shengkun Shuji
Zhonggong Zhongyang Zhengfawei
14 Dengshikou Xijie, Dongcheng Qu
Beijing Shi 100006
People's Republic of China
Salutation: Dear Secretary
Ambassador Cui Tiankai
Embassy of the People's Republic of China
3505 International Place NW
Washington DC 20008
Phone: 1 202 495 2266 -- Fax: 1 202 495 2138
Email: chinaembpress...@mfa.gov.cn
(If you receive an error message, please try calling instead!)
Salutation: Dear Ambassador
(source: Amnesty Internatnional USA)
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