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TechnoratiAmerica and The World's Executioners Join Efforts to Block UN Moves to End Death Penalty
In China, a death sentence means a bullet in the back of the head. In Iran, it means death by hanging. In Saudi Arabia, the victim is beheaded by the sword.
World public opinion has been so outraged by the continued use of the death penalty in the 25 countries that carried out executions last year, that a petition carrying five million signatures has been presented to the UN, where yesterday a small group of countries were attempting to block the historic vote on a global moratorium that could lead to an all-out ban.
The UN initiative is the brainchild of Italy, where the association Hands off Cain, campaigning for an end to the death penalty, convinced Prime Minister Romano Prodi to push for an end to the death sentence after the botched and humiliating hanging of the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein last year.
If last-minute "killer" amendments to a draft UN resolution do not scupper the initiative, the 192-nation UN human rights committee will begin voting on the measure today. If adopted, it will give a powerful moral boost to those campaigning for an end to the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
As of last night, the draft resolution had been sponsored by 85 states, including all 27 European Union nations. The United States, which executed 53 people last year, will vote against. So will China, which put 2,790 people to death last year. In fact 91 per cent of all death sentences carried out happen in six countries: China, the US, Pakistan, Sudan, Iraq and Iran, where two men were publicly hanged for murder and robbery yesterday.
"The death penalty is abhorrent and a grave abuse of human rights," said Amnesty International's death penalty expert, Piers Bannister, who believes that a global moratorium is "long overdue". "In the overwhelming number of cases around the world a prisoner will be executed after receiving an unfair trial in violation of international laws and standards," he said. "Capital punishment is always cruel and unnecessary, it doesn't deter crime and runs the risk of executing the innocent."
At the UN, Singapore has led the charge against the draft resolution, which calls on all states still maintaining the death sentence to respect a moratorium "with a view to abolishing the death penalty". The text urges them to "progressively restrict the use of the death penalty" and calls upon the 130 states which have abolished the ultimate penalty not to reintroduce it.
Opponents of the measure object that the resolution would be an interference in domestic affairs, in contravention of the UN charter. At least 10 amendments to this effect were introduced last night by such states as Singapore, Egypt and Botswana. The sovereignty argument prevented a draft resolution from being voted on by the UN in the past. But to allow that argument to pass would "ignore the years of progress on human rights at the UN", said a European diplomat.
Some EU states baulked at another attempt to bring the moratorium proposal to the UN human rights committee. But the EU is now solidly behind the draft, and campaigners are hopeful that this time the measure will go through.
Sentenced to death
Kenneth Richey
Ohio, US
New evidence means that Kenneth Richey, 43, has recently been granted a retrial after more than 20 years on death row, following his convictions for arson and murder in 1987. Richey, who grew up in Edinburgh, has always protested his innocence.
Zheng Xiaoyu
China
Zheng Xiaoyu, former head of China's Food and Drug Administration, was executed on 10 July 2007, after being found guilty of corruption for taking bribes worth £425,000 to approve untested medicines. Zheng's appeal against the sentence was rejected.
Atefah Rajabi
Iran
Atefah Rajabi was hanged in northern Iran on 15 August 2004 for "acts incompatible with chastity" under sharia law. It is alleged that Atefah was mentally ill and did not have access to a lawyer. Her unnamed male co-defendant was sentenced to 100 lashes.
Saddam Hussein
Iraq
The former president of Iraq was hanged in Baghdad on 30 December 2006, for crimes against humanity. Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death after a year-long trial found him guilty of the killing of 148 Shias from the town ofDujail in the 1980s.
Du'a Khalil Aswad
Iraq
Aswad, 17, from Kurdish Iraq, was stoned to death on or around 7 April 2007, as punishment for a relationship with a Muslim. She was stoned by relatives, with armed security force personnel in attendance.
Manuel MartinezCoronado
Guatemala
Sentenced to death for the murder of seven family members and one policeman, farmer Manuel Martinez Coronado was the first Guatamalan to die by lethal injection when he was executed on 10 February 1999.
Troy Davis
Georgia, US
Sentenced to death in 1989 for the murder of a police officer, Davis came within 24 hours of execution in July but was granted a reprieve. The Georgia Supreme Court is considering a retrial, after nine prosecution witnesses recanted.
Mariette Bosch
Botswana
Mariette Sonjaleen Bosch, a 50-year-old mother of three, was hanged in Botswana on31 March 2001, convicted of murdering her close friend Maria Wolmarans. Bosch's family and lawyers were not told of her death until afterwards.
© 2007 The Independent
28 Comments so far
Show AllMost executions in the US are by order of state courts, not federal. The death penalty is prohibited in 13 states and the DC. Most states with the death penalty have active organizations in opposition to it.
In my home state, Virginia, there are vigils held at each execution. There is active lobbying in opposition to the death penalty. Every time the governor gets on a call in radio show he can count on a phone call from the head of "Virginians Against the Death Penalty" challenging him on the details of the next scheduled execution.
I would encourge those in opposition to the death penalty to contact and support your state opposition group. If we are to eliminate it as national policy, we need to get most of the states to prohibit it.
Peace and Justice,
Bill
The death penalty is the underlying, festering sore which promotes all international crimes against humanity. This has been made very clear by the coming to power of George Bush, who condemned so many in his own state without even considering the matter, and has gone on to do the same on a global scale. Let the enduring 'good' which he accomplishes be that he stood as an example of what goes ultimately wrong when the death penalty is upheld as a standard for action.
It also cannot be forgotten that the instigators of the horrors of 9/11 were people whose own country's terrible practises had inured them to the infliction of death upon other human beings, women and children included. They also saw this criminal act as 'justified' by the wrongs that preceded it; they acted as their state had taught them to act.
Where there is a death penalty, there are executioners who either willingly or unwillingly perform the execution. They are inevitably tainted by the deed, be they men who remain in private life or those who go on to inflict similar suffering on a larger scale upon others.
It is more than sensible to eliminate this scourge from the earth - perhaps it will turn our faces in the direction of saving the planet. Certainly it is a matter for the United Nations to take a firm stand, and I praise Archbishop Tutu for his focus.
Life in prison is also unacceptable.
Why is is some people (in the US)
get a few years (sometimes months) in prison for murder while others
get far more severe sentences for non-violent crimes?
Doesn't make sense to me.
But then, maybe its not supposed to make sense.
"It's not what they did; it's what we do."
Steven Truscott was 14 when he was convicted of the murder of Lynn Harper and sentenced to hang from the neck until dead. It turns out that he did not do it.
http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/truscott/
Oh my...look at the company we (the US) keep. Sudan, China, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq........my oh my. Is this another case of--DO as I say but not as I do? Oh the shame of it. It is simply not compatible with Christian ethics to execute. Find another way to deal with "these murderers". How about doing hard labor and making restitution to the survivors. Paying their own way and not being a burden on society.
Judi
"But when one is the survivor of a loved one who has been the victim of a cold blooded murderer, taking a decisive stand against capitol punishment will seem more like justice hs not been served."
According to what you wrote, shouldn't the American soldiers who were involved in cold blooded murder of innocent Iraqis be sent to gallows??? What about Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Negroponte..... who are involved in millions of murders around the world??? Will the American justice system punish them for their barbaric crimes???? AN EYE FOR AN EYE, A LIFE FOR A LIFE.
Death penalty...comes in all forms...genecide....starvation....lack of health care....depleted uranium....vaccines tinged with mercury...pandemics created by the government....false flags...roundups and deaths of people who dissent...assasinations of anyone disagreeing with political philosophy....governments who won't bend to a particular philosophy.....
It goes well beyond any legal systems and affects everyone on earth.
What does death sentence mean in the US? Is it ethnic cleansing? Because "the colour-blinded" (in)justice system in the US serves death sentence mostly to the African Americans.
It's easy to think one can be a pacifist and ban killing. But when one is the survivor of a loved one who has been the victim of a cold blooded murderer, taking a decisive stand against capitol punishment will seem more like justice has not been served. Our system in America isn't fool proof, but it's better than none. The capitol punishment in other countries such as Iran where they stone people for what I believe are minor infractions, however, should be regulated. Although we don't need another foolish Governor like former Bush in TExas, I still think murderers, especially serial murderers, should receive the death penalty to appease the surviving victims. In these instances, a tooth for a tooth. One has to make a decision that is based on what is best for all concerned and in this case, the murderer should make his peace with whatever he believes and take his punishment. An eye for an eye, a life for a life.
The world's ugliest people resist changing their ways. We the people have to find a way to force their hands.
The struggle continues.
When the stock markets totally collapse, all people of goodwill will have good cause to celebrate. That will mark a major turning point in history.
Hey that's not fair, what if George wants to become governor of Texas again he would get bored without anyone to execute.
As governor he presided over the execution of 152 inmates in six years, including the first woman in that state and a retarded man with the IQ of a seven year old, holding the record for any governor in modern times.
As president he was able to do a much better job of killing people.
Heck of a job Georgie boy.
The state has the obligation to protect the citizens. But, when it takes a life, doesn't that say that it no longer ranks as being subject to the people, but above the people? A democracy should always be subject to the will of the people without the right to kill the people whoever they are.
"He among you who is without sin, let him cast the first stone."
franck: "a moratorium on the rape and murder of innocennse women and children"
Don't we already have such a moratorium? These are horrendous crimes. If we address why some people commit these crimes, we at least have a chance to make the world a better place. Killing them only degrades us.
Murder is murder whether it is committed by an individual or a "justice system". The death penalty is not a punishment it is a crime sanctioned by the government.
We should not only have the death penalty but we should revert to the Roman art of crucifixion. This could be done in public arenas, which would allow the public to observe while eating a picnic lunch, would also be very cost effective could do 2 or 3 at once. PBS could provide times and places of upcoming crucifixions as a public service announcement.
Lovely outings for a law abiding christian families Sunday afternoon!!!
This 'moratorium against the death penalty' has about as much chance of getting the U.S. to adhere to it, as a 'moratorium on war' would!
The U.S. not only sanctions executions at home, but abroad as well and therefore looks upon the whole U.N. as nothing more than a nuisance. What good is a system of justice after all, if K Street can't dictate the rules?
Franck: I have copied below a very eloquent CD post from GotMetta two days ago - maybe you didn't see it. If you did, it is worth another read. The first paragraph is particularly relevant to your comment about what is more inhuman - rape or the death penalty.
"Got Metta November 13th, 2007 2:46 pm
Death penalty advocates should consider the following: to support capital punishment, one must either believe that the court system is infallible (which is demonstrably false, as in the case of Kirk Bloodsworth and others), or that it is acceptable to occasionally execute innocent persons.
To be just in a fallible world, punishment must not be irrevocable. Imagine going to the death chamber for a crime you didn't commit. Imagine your child going there.
Our society can do better: where warranted by the nature of the crime, life without parole is a severe but revocable punishment. The US has no need for and should eliminate capital punishment.
The whole punishment system in the US needs an overhaul. (I refuse to use the word justice to describe it; if justice is occasionally served, it is by accident). But that's another discussion."
[sic]
How do we always take the side of the criminal and seem to forget the victoms of these horrendous crimes that got the criminals on death row in the first place.
Wouldn't it be fair that if we put a moratorium on the death penality that we also put a moratorium on the rape and murder of innocennse women and children which I classify as inhuman treatment also.
A shotgun to the face after being raped or a needle in the arm, which is more inhuman, think about it.
Funny how the author fails to mention Japan as part of the state murder club.
Does this mean that folks who make a living out of killing other people will be put out of business? Disgusting and completely un-American.
The death penalty is no more and no less than ritual human sacrifice.
It's a twisted little meme that rides the human brain like herpes rides the human genome; it's a virus. Proponents of the death penalty no more care for the actual guilt of the persons they condemn than they care about the name of the cow whose steak they are eating. There's always another crime they are willing to kill somebody for, another offense to add to the list of capital offenses. Something "those people" do; the ones who don't look and act like themselves.
The important thing is that somebody, anybody dies in a neat little ritual. Well that and that they get to feel that they ordered it up. When societies really break down as in Nazi Germany, Pol Pot's Cambodia and currently Iraq they can't help themselves and play games with the bodies after they have died. For all we know they eat the tender bits in back rooms.
The folks who advocate the death penalty are no more sane than a pack of city dogs in a sheep pen. It's just pure blood lust.
with the exception of china, all the major countrys that are for the death penalty, are stringently religious. business as usual.
Guns, war and execution; so much for the pro-life mentality of the republican party.
It will be a long time if ever that humans abolish the death penalty. Too much money to be made with the practice, i.e. lawyers fees, prison guards, police, courts, etc.
Away a species which grossly over values a semi-presious rock, a.k.a diamonds, has to be without reason.
Extra Terristrials visit us cause we are such a irrational hoot. Yes, we are the laughing stock of the universe, methinks.
Don't forget: Jesus W. and his buddy Alberto are the executioners of Tex-ass. 152! These God-lovers love to play God.
Shall we all shout hypocricy at the top of our voices and continue until the vibration turns to dust the putrid rhetoric of violence, hatred, bigotry and religous zealotry that spews from the mouths of those who would mercilessly judge and condemn to some horrid death their fellow human beings?
Opponents of the measure object that the resolution would be an interference in domestic affairs, in contravention of the UN charter.
Gee, I see what you mean. It would be like invading and occupying another country, nullifying its sovereignty, interfering in its political processes, and establishing 'enduring' military bases on its soil? We certainly can't tolerate that kind of UN Charter contravention, can we.