death penalty news April 9, 2005
GLOBAL: U.N. Urges Countries to Shed Light on Death Penalty A U.N. human rights investigator Friday urged countries to remove the "cloak of secrecy" surrounding the death penalty and disclose the number of executions and people on death row. Philip Alston, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said secrecy undermined safeguards that can prevent errors or abuses and ensure fair and just procedures at all stages. "There is a need for every country that retains the death penalty to disclose publicly the number of executions, the crimes for which the people have been convicted, and ideally their identities," Alston told a news briefing. "The argument is simple -- you cannot say that 'we have the death penalty because the majority of people in my country want it' and at the same time not tell the people what the situation is. "It denies the human dignity of those sentenced, many of whom are still eligible to appeal, and it denies the rights of family members to know the fate of their closest relatives," he said. He also said he had sought an invitation to China and expected to visit Iran this year. Amnesty International, in a report this week, said China topped executions worldwide with 3,400 last year, followed by Iran with 159. Both states had executed under 18 year-olds in violation of international law, the London-based group said. Alston, an Australian jurist and law professor, was speaking to a news briefing after addressing the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. The forum's 53 member states are holding their annual six-week session in Geneva through April 22. (source: Reuters)
