Abolish the Death Penalty

A young Malaysian man under threat of imminent execution in Singapore for drug trafficking should be granted clemency, Amnesty International and the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) have said.

Yong Vui Kong, who was 19 when he was first arrested for possessing 47g of heroin in 2007, has no other options left.

8 May 2012

Mr. K. Shanmugam
Law Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs
The Treasury,
100 High Street, #08-02
Singapore 179434


Dear Minister

OPEN LETTER: CLEMENCY FOR YONG VUI KONG URGENTLY REQUESTED

Duration:  00:19:00
Korean and English subtitled
 

A proposed legal amendment that would make blasphemy a crime punishable by death in Kuwait would be a massive step backwards by the country's authorities, if passed by parliament, Amnesty International said today.
The draft law was quickly introduced and passed by the Kuwaiti Parliament’s Law and Legal Affairs Committee following the arrest of a man accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad on Twitter.

Japan’s decision to hang three prisoners after nearly two years without executions is a retrograde step, Amnesty International said.

Justice Minister Toshio Ogawa authorized the executions of three men, hanged in jails in Tokyo, Hiroshima and Fukuoka, explaining that this was his ‘duty’ as Minister.

Executions in Japan are by hanging and are usually carried out in secret. Prisoners are typically given little or no warning before they are executed.

Download NOW: Report on Death sentences and executions in 2011
PDF [11] / Word [12]

Amnesty International and the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) call on the General Prosecutor’s Office not to block Hakamada Iwao’s appeals for a retrial in view of new serious concerns regarding the evidence used to convict him in 1968.

Hakamada Iwao, who celebrates his 76th birthday on 10 March, has been in detention for over 45 years and under sentence of death for over 43 years.

Three foreign nationals convicted of drug-related offences in Saudi Arabia must not be executed, Amnesty International said amid reports of a surge in executions in the kingdom since the beginning of the year.

Ali Agirdas, a Turkish national, as well as Sheikh Mastan and Hamza Abu Bakir, both Indian nationals, may be executed at any time following their conviction for drug smuggling and drug possession.

The Malaysian authorities must release Hamza Kashgari and not forcibly return him to Saudi Arabia, where he faces risk of execution for his Tweets about the Prophet Mohammed, Amnesty International said today.

He was arrested at Kuala Lumpur’s airport Thursday morning and taken away by two plain-clothed men. Amnesty International called on the authorities to reveal his whereabouts, and ensure his access to lawyers. The Malaysian authorities have not charged Kashgari with any recognizable criminal offense.

The Mongolian parliament's approval of a bill that aims to scrap the death penalty is a vital step towards full abolition of the death penalty in Mongolia, Amnesty International said today.

The bill, which ratifies the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), was approved today by a large majority of MPs.

 Amnesty International and Belarusian human rights organizations Viasna and Belarus Helsinki Committee were today turned away from delivering a global petition to Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, calling for an end to executions in Belarus. 

A hard-line group of Asian countries are defying the global trend against the death penalty and putting to death thousands of people after unfair trials every year, the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) said today in a new report.  

14 Asian countries, taken together, execute more people than the rest of the world combined.

When Justice Fails, Thousands executed after unfair trials highlights, through the cases of people on death row, the struggle to secure a fair trial in eight of these countries.  

Japan’s justice minister should not sign execution warrants, Amnesty International and the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network said today, following the minister’s announcement that he does not intend to end capital punishment, despite saying last month that he would not approve executions.

Justice Minister Hideo Hiraoka said Friday he would look at each death row case individually, after a prominent politician reportedly had encouraged him to exercise his power to authorize executions.

Amnesty International activists around the world are coming together on the World Day Against the Death Penalty to demand an end to executions in Belarus, the only country in Europe and the former Soviet Union that still executes.

“Belarus is the only country in Europe that still claims to kill people in the name of justice,” said Roseann Rife, death penalty expert at Amnesty International.

As many as 400 people may have been executed in Belarus since 1991 – the true number is unknown because of the secrecy surrounding executions.

Amnesty International activists around the world are coming together on the World Day Against the Death Penalty to demand an end to executions in Belarus, the only country in Europe and the former Soviet Union that still executes.

“Belarus is the only country in Europe that still claims to kill people in the name of justice,” said Roseann Rife, death penalty expert at Amnesty International.

As many as 400 people may have been executed in Belarus since 1991 – the true number is unknown because of the secrecy surrounding executions.

The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Help us abolish it.

To support the campaigning activities planned around the 9th World Day Against the Death Penalty on the 10th October 2011 the audiovisual production team at the International Secretariat have produced a 4 minute animation that highlights the fact that the Death Penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

Four documentary films are selected for screening to celebrate 50th anniversary of Amnesty International. Those films have an in-depth analysis on human rights related topics, such as Stoning and Campaign against Violence against Women; Abolish Death Penalty Campaign; Religions and Rights of Lesbian, Gay and Transgender; Children’s Rights and Rights to Education. The film shows will be held from October 8th to 16th as October 10th is an very important day. It is the World Day Against Death Penalty. 

The State Board of Pardons and Paroles in the US state of Georgia must reconsider their decision to deny clemency for a US man facing the death penalty, Amnesty International said today after the ruling cleared the way for his execution on Wednesday.

Troy Davis was sentenced to death in 1991 for the murder of police officer Mark Allen Macphail in Savannah, Georgia.

The US state of Georgia should grant clemency to death row inmate Troy Davis Amnesty International said today, after his execution was set to take place on 21 September.

Troy Davis was convicted in 1991 of the 1989 murder of a Savannah police officer. The case against him rested on witness testimony. Since his trial, seven of nine key witnesses have recanted or changed their testimony, some alleging police coercion.

Davis now faces his fourth execution date in four years.

Taiwan must halt the use of the death penalty, Amnesty International said today, after the death sentence was confirmed in the country's longest-running criminal case.

Chiou Ho-shun who has been detained for 23 years is now on death row facing execution following the rejection of his appeal by the Supreme Court on 28 July.  

"The Taiwanese authorities must immediately halt the execution of Chiou Ho-shun, and order his retrial with fair proceedings in line with international standards," said Sam Zarifi Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific Director.

The Bangladesh cabinet’s approval of a bill that expands the scope of the death penalty is a step in the wrong direction. The Human Trafficking Prevention and Curbing bill, if approved by Parliament, will add human trafficking to the long list of capital offences. The addition will single out Bangladesh as one of few states moving against the worldwide trend to limit the scope of the death penalty.

Graphic new video footage of a public hanging in Iran this week highlights the brutalisation of both the condemned and those who watch executions, Amnesty International said today. 

The video provided to Amnesty International was shot on 19 July, and shows the execution by hanging of three men in Azadi Square in the city of Kermanshah.  The men had been convicted of rape.

The three men are shown standing on top of buses as guards drape ropes fixed to a bridge overhead around their necks, before a crowd of onlookers including children. 

Amnesty International Hong Kong (AIHK) and the Joint Committee for the abolition of the death penalty organized an action on urging the Chinese government to cease the executions on two men – Robert Shan Shiao-may from Hong Kong and Lien Sung-ching from Taiwan. They are both sentenced to death by the Zhuhai Intermediate People’s Court in Guangdong province on 26 June 2009, for drug-trafficking, illegal possession of drugs, and illegal possession of a firearm.

Amnesty International today called on the Governor of the southern US state of Alabama to commute the death sentence of a man who is due to be executed on 16 June.

Eddie Duval Powell, a 41-year-old African-American, was sentenced to death in 1998 for the rape and murder of a 70-year-old white woman near Tuscaloosa, Alabama three years earlier.

His appeal lawyers have claimed he has a mental disability that would render the execution unconstitutional while questions have also been raised over possible racial discrimination.

The Saudi Arabian authorities must halt the use of the death penalty, Amnesty International said today, following a significant increase in executions in the country in the last six weeks.

At least 27 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia in 2011, the same as the total number of people executed in the whole of 2010. Fifteen people were executed in May alone.  

The Indian President's decision to approve the country's first executions since 2004 would be a blow to human rights, Amnesty International said today.

President Pratibha Patil has accepted the Home Ministry's recommendations to reject the mercy petitions of death row prisoners Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar and Mahendra Nath Das, according to Indian media reports.

Amnesty International today condemned the death sentence handed down by a Cairo military court against a 17-year-old boy, warning that unfair military trials are corroding Egypt’s criminal justice system.

Ahmed Marous Ibrahim was one of four people sentenced to death by hanging by Cairo’s Supreme Military Court for abducting and raping a 17-year-old girl.

“The military cannot be judge, prosecutor and executioner in post-uprising Egypt,” said Amnesty International. 

28 March 2010

The Global Movement to Kill the Death Penalty
BY SALIL SHETTY

Last March, when Andrei Zhuk’s mother brought one of her usual food parcels to the prison in Minsk, she was turned away. Her son ‘had been moved’, officials told her. She should not come looking for him anymore, they said, but should instead wait for notification from the court.