aubreyharris.com

SADDAM HUSSEIN EXECUTED

29 December 2006

Late-breaking news out of Iraq is that Saddam Hussein, with two other former associates, was executed by hanging in a typical example of late-Friday news. The Iraqi regime has gone ahead with the execution despite an on-going trial Saddam was facing for the gassing of Kurds in northern Iraq . The execution was also despite an on-going religious holiday and also despite worldwide outcry that Saddam should not be executed.

Iraq is still an incredibly violent state. Iraq is also facing regular criticism of not only the Hussein trial, but countless others.

It’s not that Iraq was free of serious human rights abuses or that it was a golden age for Iraq , but that Saddam Hussein should have been treated as an example of the fact that everyone should be conferred their full human rights regardless of past actions. If people are to have their rights withheld because of past actions it must be done after a trial that fully complies with the highest standards.

By executing so early there has been no opportunity to hear out the many further crimes for which Saddam was accused.

Iraq has carried-out victor’s justice – the USA has done so by-proxy. The secrecy of the execution is a symptom of this.

Because of this, Iraq will continue to live in a cycle of violence, the Iraqi people will continue to live without a public examination – like that process that has been carried out in other countries that have come through extreme periods of violence.

Iraq should never have reinstituted capital punishment. The Iraqi courts are certainly not mature enough to handle these cases to the standards required by the international community. The punishment is a constant reminder of the abuses of the state in the past and of the continuing abuses under the current administration.

It is perhaps too much to hope that this will be the last execution in the state.

Earlier today, in preparation for writing my normal blog, I had collected the following stories in anticipation of an upcoming execution:

Saddam To Be Executed on Saturday?

Tasteful TV Coverage of an Execution?

Be Ready for a new TV Nut, Taiwanese Stance on the Death Penalty Pivotal for Region, Members of the Bali Nine Bumped-up to Death Sentences, Federal Misconduct in Vermont, Japan Spoils Christmas, World Reacts to Hussein Death Verdict

28 December 2006

According to an online casting call/ Blog, "A Beverly Hills-based production company is seeking a passionately conservative man who sticks to his guns on issues of abortion, affirmative action, immigration, the death penalty, and the war in Iraq, for a reality TV show." - what does this mean? I take it to mean that there is likely to be a resurfacing of the death penalty question in the realm of reality TV. Worrying to me because such an issue is not, to me, suitable for 'Reality style' shows. It needs serious and thorough understanding of the issue. Reality TV just smacks, to me, of shows like Dog the Bounty Hunter. Shows that really don't take a lot of time to examine a problem, just to pack a punch and get emotions riled.

Peter Huang writes in the TaiPei Times on the issue of the death penalty from the Taiwanese perspective. He points in particular to the fact that Taiwan is close to avoiding commiting an execution this year, although a death warrant has recently been signed, it would be the first one activated this year if it occurs.

Mr Huang's article contains a good, brief summary of the developments in abolition since World War II. He discusses Taiwan's recent history with the issue and of the views of western society as regards Taiwan. Huang suggests that the west sees Taiwan as a potential leader in the region should it become abolitionist - possibly having positive influences on Japan and China as a model of justice without a death penalty.

Adding insult to injury, Bali, where only recently the alleged mastermind of the Bali bombing which killed scores, got out of jail after only a few months in jail, several Australians and other locals caught in a drug bust have had their 20 year sentences upgraded to death by the supreme court after appeals by prosecutors for a harsher sentence.

It seems that justice is a joke here. Drug crimes get death, but blowing-up people is a mere inconvenience for a few months. Something has to be done about the judiciary in Indonesia. There is no consistency in these rulings and allowing sentences that had been reduced from life to 20 years to be upgraded to even more severe than the original conviction - to death even is contrary to legal norms! The injustice of the death penalty is most apparent when such miscarriages occur.

 

Marc Estrin of the Monthly Review magazine has written a revealing article on last summer's federal death penalty trial in Vermont. The conduct of the prosecutors and the deliberate seeking of the death penalty in an abolitionist state reeks throughout this case. The role the media played in the trial is curious - ignoring the main entrance to the courthouse, where protestors to the trial were present, instead only focussing on a small back-entrance where the family of the victim tried to quietly get breaks from the trial. The result in the end was a capital sentence in this normally peaceful state. One hopes that the Bush Administration, having been soundly defeated at the polls in November, will stop being so bullish around the few states that have made the advances in human rights recognised by the UN and the OAS, associated with abolition of the death penalty.

Japan spoiled Christmas Day this year. According to the AFP in TaiPei Times, Japan hung four prisoners on Christmas Day. Two of whom were in their 70s. It not only spoiled Christmas, but it also made a black mark on a year that had until then had no executions in Japan. The Japanese have been regularly criticised not only as the only major industrialised nation outside of the United States to continue to practice the Death Penalty, but also because of the extreme secrecy of the practice in Japan.

According to the article:

A justice ministry spokesman said four inmates were executed but citing government policy he refused to identify the prisoners or say where they were killed.

Japanese media said that the four included two of the oldest prisoners on death row -- convicted murderers Yoshimitsu Akiyama, 77, and Yoshio Fujinami, 75 -- who were both in jail in Tokyo.

The others were reported to be Hiroaki Hidaka, 44, a taxi driver in Hiroshima convicted of murdering a girl and three women and farmer Michio Fukuoka, 64, who killed three people, including his father-in-law and sister-in-law.

Japan effectively had a moratorium on the death penalty imposed by former justice minister Seiken Sugiura, who served from October last year until September. He said executions went against his Buddhist beliefs.

He was replaced three months ago by Jinen Nagase when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office. By law the justice minister has to sign off on executions.

Again, I am saddened that this nation continues to perform this most inhumane of penalties. Perhaps this is part of a 'special relationship' between Japan and the US - so that the US can avoid being the major industrialized country to practice the death penalty.

Finally - the world has rung-out in criticism of the Iraqi court's decision to uphold the Hussein death penalty. The only country to appear to be glad of the punishment was the United States, which stands to gain face if the execution goes ahead. It won't help the war at all, but GWB seems to have a thing about putting other people to death.

Here are some quick links to related articles:

AGI Online

Saddam's Death Penalty Reopens Rift Between US and UK

US Hails Saddam Death Penalty

Vatican Official Condemns Death Penalty

My Blog will return tomorrow... Best Wishes for the Holiday Season! - Aubrey (28 Dec 2006)

Amnesty International Report on Iraq

21 December 2006

Amnesty International has released a report critical of the on-going executions in Iraq.

Maryland Halts Executions, Gangsta Rap becoming an 'Aggravating Factor' in the US? Iraq Executes 13

20 December 2006

The US State of Maryland has halted all executions, in line with the recent suspensions in California and Florida. The halt is not based on a decision that executions are cruel or inhumane, but to allow time for public input into the procedure. The Governor is against capital punishment.

A young black man in the United States faces a possible death penalty, being portrayed as a remorseless killer because of the defendant's own rap lyrics. According to KOMO-TV in Seattle, this is a growing trend in prosecutions - using rap lyrics to portray the defendant as evil. Should this be acceptable? When the US first managed to have the death penalty brought back after the 1966 -76 suspension, they brought in 'safeguards' which required certain aggravating factors to be considered. Certainly Gangsta Rap was not among the 'aggravating factors' - but the use of it now appears to be a new trend in prosecutions looking for extreme punishment through vilification. What's worse however, is that Gangsta Rap is unlikely to be associated with anyone from a middle-class home or more generally the white population. Gansta Rap as an aggravating factor is much more likely to become a systemic form of racial and class discrimination. Not that that would be a new thing for capital punishment, just more fuel for the fire.

Finally - Iraq has executed 13 more prisoners. Iraq is quickly regaining a lead in executions in the world. Those executed were convicted of crimes including murder, but if you read my December 17th blog, you'll see that these people in all likelihood received no proper trial at all.

Governor Exterminator, Libya Sentences Medical Workers to Death, Peruvian President Wants Blood

19 December 2006

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California, has instead of pursuing an investigation into the whole process of capital punishment, has opted to try and make 'quick fixes' to patch-up the existing one and get back to the industry of killing people in the name of "the people".

Schwarzenegger was reacting to the Fogel decision that did expressly claim that the system, though broken, could be fixed. I'm not convinced there is any way to fix the system - but I also don't believe in 'the system' - so I do have a bit of a bias.

The key problem is that the legal arguments being used in this case all beg the question of the right of a state to kill. The arguments made that someone is innocent are of course important - but it is still a miscarriage of justice to execute the guilty. It is still a violation of the right to life heralded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The whole system is still a cruel an unusual punishment, also protected by the Declaration. The US agreed to this document in 1948 but still seems to have a problem accepting the implications.

Innocence and pain from execution do not matter if there isn't right of the state to execute. It becomes a moot point. Life in prison allows for corrections until the natural end of the convict's life. Death can't be taken back - ooops - wrong guy!

Many of the readings in US Media that make abolitionist conclusions, still seem to blindly accept that if the person was guilty, or if it was a humane end, then it might be OK. No. It is not OK.

Death is not a punishment. Death is the end of life. Capital Punishment enforces the association of death with evil. There is nothing evil simply about the end of life. But there is something sickening about a state actively pursing opportunities to exercise ultimate power over an individual.

Capital Punishment encourages wongful convictions. It even encourages wrongful confessions in efforts to avoid the death penalty. Faced with death, what would you do? I can find no reason that a convict should not make any and every effort to avoid the death penalty. Whether by honest or dishonest means - when the choice is death or not death, we must never find fault with someone who is trying to save their own life.

I'm not excusing terrorists or other such things. It's all abhorrent, but by using death as a threat, we authorise those facing that penalty to really do anything they have to in order to save their life. If we take away the threat of death, that excuse is no longer there and we will all be better protected.

Libya has again sentenced a group of Belgian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death after convicting them of deliberately infecting children with HIV. There appears to be heavy political weight behind this case as it was also reported that there is evidence the children were actually infected long before they ever arrived in Libya. The contention of European and other Western states is that these people are being used as scapegoats to cover-up poor hygeine practices in the country's hospitals. There is also the suggestion that these people may be human captives to be used as bargaining chips in dealings with the west.

Col. Qadhafi long ago (at least as far back as 1988) expressed his disgust at executions (relating, he has said, to televised executions in 1984) and desire to abolish it. He has still failed to live-up to that promise. The time is long overdue that he makes real efforts to abolish the death penalty.

In Peru the President appealed to the people to endorse his plan to extend the death penalty to those convicted of terrorist offences. This was announced a couple of months ago and covered in my blog (October I believe). The extension of the death penalty to new crimes is contrary to human rights development and contrary to international norms.

Furthermore, 'terrorism' is often used as a catch-all crime to eliminate political rivals or make examples of other people.

It is clear that Peru has an awful history with terrorists, but it will only become worse if they give the terrorists no reason to surrender.

Alabama Judge Opposed to Death Penalty, Texas Overkill, China Readies for new Safeguards, Iraq's Troubled Legal System

17 December 2006

I'm still waiting on my host server to publish these blogs. In the meanwhile I'm continuing this 'diary' version to upload asap.

In Alabama, Calhoun-Cleburne Circuit Court Judge Sam Monk, is preparing to retire and has decided now to speak to his opposition to the death penalty. In his time on the bench, according to the article in the Anniston Star, Monk has sentenced 6 people to die and about 6 others to life.

Monk joins a growing community of judges outspoken about their opposition to capital punishment although he has decided to do so in his retirement, apparently because he has had to ignore his personal revulsion to the penalty in order to be a judge 'reflective' of the people of Alabama. Alabama is one of those Bible-belt states that has this strange affinity for killing prisoners, having killed 35 prisoners since 1976 according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

The article does not contain any direct quotes from Monk but alludes to one in which Monk cites his religion as an influencing factor. There are however several quotes from other high-ranking judges making their comments on the death penalty.

In a related story in Texas, David P. Atwood writes of the excessive and bloodthirsty way proecutors in Texas approach the death penalty. Atwood is a member of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penaty, but he is writing of specific cases in Texas including the recent trial of a man convicted of negligently killing several people trying to illegally emmigrate from Mexico in his tractor-trailer. He points to the trials of the mentally ill, mentally handicapped and deliberate misleading of juries as examples of the excessive seeking of the death penalty.

The article requires filling-out a free subscription form, but is worth the read and is a fairly brief article.

In China, judges are preparing for the recently regained requirement of the Supreme Court to review all death penalty cases. According to the People's Daily Online, the judges will be ready as of January 1st of next year, to begin hearing appeals. You may recall I wrote on the announcement of this new system a month or two ago in this blog.

In the article, Xiao Yang, President of China's Supreme People's Court (SPC), says "Only an "extremely small number" of serious offenders should be given the capital sentence" He has apparently "ordered judges to exercise extreme caution when sentencing people to death, saying that every judgement must stand the test of time."

The article also explains the history of the SPC as regards appeals:

The SPC used to review all death penalty cases until 1983. But provincial courts were later given the authority for crimes that seriously endangered public security and social order, such as homicide, rape, robbery and the criminal use of explosives.

It's not all good news in China though. China still continues to violate all sorts of international standards regarding the death penalty and other human rights. According to the article In China, capital punishment falls into two categories -- a death penalty in which the criminal is executed immediately after sentencing, and death with a two-year reprieve. Those who are immediately executed are being done so in violation of the ECOSOC safeguards. Furthermore, claims that were later verified by the Chinese authorities that organ selling from executed prisoners is an active and profitable business in China point to economical reasons for excessive and illegal executions. The fact the China considers all statistics to do with executions a state secret, means that the people of China as well as the world, have only a vague picture of the true horrors being committed in their name.

In an article in the Herald Tribune of Florida, Michael Moss writes an extensive report on the massive difficulties an complexities of the Iraqi legal system under the current administration. The grossly unfair trials, executions (14 so far this year according to the article), and even the US interference in the system when it pronounces anyone not guilty.

It is clear from the article that the succession was poorly planned by the US Administrators and the effect has been kangaroo courts and inadequate legal representation. Defense lawyers being unable to meet with their clients, even being handed cases moments before the trial (whereas the prosecutors are able to take their time preparing a case and cherry-picking those they think most likely to win, while others wait in detention centres regardless of innocence.

Updates to Blog delayed

16 December 2006

If you have been trying to access this page for the past few days you will have noticed that the articles have not been updated for some time. I had been delayed for personal reasons in the week (but had been maintaining articles in an offline document - hence below). Today (Saturday) I have had delays due to maintenance on my host server. I hope to have this resolved today.

HUGE NEWS - FLORIDA SUSPENDS ALL EXECUTIONS, CALIFORNIA DECLARES LETHAL INJECTION UNCONSTITUTIONAL

15 December 2006

As you will see from yesterday’s posting on Florida ’s execution, it was an excruciating affair. Jeb Bush, a long-time advocate of the death penalty and brother of President George W Bush, who presided over more executions in his time as Governor of Texas than anyone previous, has announced an immediate suspension of all executions in Florida.

The world press has reacted. This story is especially significant not only because of Jeb Bush’s relationship to the President and his own history with the punishment, but also because Florida is one of the leading executing states ( Texas is still the leading executor, according to the Death Penalty Information Center).

Jeb Bush’s executive Order is posted on the Death Penalty Information Center website.

In another important announcement in the USA , a California judge has ruled that lethal injection is unconstitutional.
In the ruling, the Justice Jeremy Fogel found that the protocols set-out in California as used do violate the Eigth Amendment of the US Constitution. He brought attention to the following issues:

• Inconsistent and unreliable screening of execution team members
• A lack of meaningful training, supervision, and oversight of the execution team
• Inconsistent and unreliable record-keeping
• Improper mixing, preparation, and administration of sodium thiopental by the
  execution team
• Inadequate lighting, overcrowded conditions, and poorly designed facilities in which
  the execution team must work

The judge also made an important statement, which one hopes Governor Schwarzenegger, will take to heart:

California’s voters and legislature repeatedly have expressed their support for capital punishment. This case thus presents an important opportunity for executive leadership.

Correction on the 12th, Puerto Rican had to be killed twice in Florida, Indian politician against Justice and Mercy, Mentally Ill and Facing Death, Death Penalty Issued in Abolitionist de facto Sri Lanka

14 December 2006

To begin today I need to make a factual correction in what I wrote on the 12th regarding the eminent execution of a Puerto Rican man. I had mistakenly thought that the case was tried in Puerto Rico under federal capital statutes.

I believe this was because of a recent failed attempt by federal authorities to make such a prosecution there and it was probably in my mind when I wrote the blog. I have amended the article below and hope that this serves as a direction to my earlier mistake.

Florida went ahead with the execution of 55 year-old grandfather, Angel Nieves Diaz despite his challenge that the process is unusually cruel and inhumane. In what was apparently an anticipated event, Diaz did not die for at least half an hour, when a second dose finally killed the man.

His family helplessly protested outside the prison while the execution took place.




Governor Jeb Bush seemed unmoved, sterilely declaring that the state followed all the protocols and declaring the longer than usual execution as due to a pre-existing medical condition.

The article cited above contains a description of the process. This is also in rather stark contrast to the language of a press release shortly after the execution saying that it happened ‘within minutes.’








Former Tamu Nidal Chief Minister J. Jayalitha seems quite content to play politics with international safeguards for those facing the death penalty. In a statement she made on Thursday, she claimed that it was infuriating that there is any delay in executing three people convicted in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

The point behind these safeguards is not to diminish the seriousness of the crime, but to ensure that those facing death – already an affront to human rights – have every opportunity afforded to them to be able to argue their case not just for denying the crime, but also to plea for mercy and clemency from the courts and government.

As discussed in yesterdays articles, it is clear that there is consensus amongst experts that capital punishment is the last thing a country needs when it is recovering from a major loss. The death penalty merely adds fuel to the fire of violence.

I have often been amazed that India , home to some of the most famous advocates for peace and gentleness in the world, should be a retentionist state. A country that is largely vegetarian and makes efforts not to disturb cattle, should be so quick to apply the harshest violence to human beings. It doesn’t make sense and needs to change.

The Wall Street Journal has posted an intriguing work on the issue of mental illness on death row. The issue of executing the mentally ill is a different challenge in than the execution of the mentally handicapped (which has been declared unlawful, however states take quite a variety of interpretations on this).

In Sri Lanka, which is Abolitionist de facto (having not executed anyone since 1976), a death sentence has been issued upon two men convicted of theft and murder during the Tsunami in 2004. To be sure, the crime for which they were convicted was a very callous one, but it is hard to see how this case was not treated abnormally to begin with.

Calls for abolition in Bahrain following first executions in over 10 years, Dealing With International Crimes – Death Does Nothing, Life in lieu of mandatory death, Scalia Makes a point, Death Sentence in Japan, Indian Parliament Shows Cruel Politics of Capital Punishment, Iraq Readies to Violate International Safeguards

13 December 2006

The Vice President of a dissolved Bahrain human rights group, the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, called for Bahrain to make definite steps towards abolition. The state made its first executions in over ten years recently, executing two Bangladeshis and a Pakistani citizen by firing squad. There seems to be a trend among Gulf states in executing foreign nationals, which calls to question the procedural fairness of the trials – whether embassies are properly informed, whether language is an issue and whether there is a bias in the court judiciary. In particular it seems, when the victim of the original crime is a national of the state conducting the trial.

It is also reminiscent of the claims that in the United States a black offender is much more likely to face a death penalty when the victim was white, than when a black victim is involved, regardless of the race of the defendant.

There is little doubt that capital trials are highly sensitive to bias. They usually involve either a particularly heinous crime (in which case there is pressure to ‘get the perpetrator’) or else involve a politically sensitive crime in a repressive state (e.g., embezzlement in China or drug smuggling in Singapore ).

The UN has made it clear. Moves towards abolition are moves in favour of human rights. All states that continue to have and especially those that use the death penalty, will be improving the human rights standards of their nation as they move towards abolition.

The article does not speak to the reasons for the dissolution of the BCHR – there may be more to this story than meets the eye.

Neena Bhandari writes in Final Call.com, that a meeting of world experts on conflict resolution and the aftermath of atrocities have one thing in common. They all agree that the death penalty achieves nothing.

The conference, held in Sydney , Australia , called ‘After the War: Prosecutions, Pardons & Peace,’ organised by the Australian Red Cross, was a meeting of experts examining the post-atrocity tribunals from WWII, Rwanda and Yugoslavia.

“Death sentences usually emphasize a continued fascination with violence as a way to respond to problems. Thus, the cycle of killing persists and not much is learned. Murder by the state, as in capital punishment, does not contribute to the building of a civil society,” Stuart Rees, director of the Peace & Conflict Studies at Sydney University and director of the Sydney Peace Foundation, told the audience….“No healing occurs by taking anyone’s life. Even justice, not the same as healing, is not achieved by killing,” he said. “Transformation to peace with justice, i.e. a continuous struggle to negotiate respect for and attainment of human rights, is the viable alternative.”

It is easy to see how this extends into peacetime nations as well. It also helps to understand how societies naturally descend into supporting capital punishment - it may be like a heroin to them, to be addicted to the idea of revenge. There may be a relation to this and the brutalisation effect of capital punishment as espoused by Cesare Beccaria in the 17 th century or in Amnesty’s Declaration of Stockholm.

Meanwhile in the Bahamas, a man at the centre of the recent Privy Council ruling declaring mandatory capital punishment to be unfair, has received a life sentence for the crime of which he was originally charged.

In the USA, a surprisingly frank remark was made by Justice Scalia - the Supreme Court Justice controversially appointed by George W. Bush and known for his very conservative views. Justice Scalia remarked on the fact that the Supreme Court is regularly called upon to make what are in essence, Constitutional changes, not really constitutional interpretations. According to the article:

[Scalia] said any other theory leaves judges unleashed to interpret the Constitution however they see fit. The result, he said, is a sort of "mini-Constitutional convention" during every Supreme Court nomination in which interest groups seek nominees who will rewrite the Constitution to their standards.

Scalia made the remark in relation to his contention that Supreme Court Justices deserved a pay raise.

Some other article links (no comments beyond my titles to save space):

Death Sentence in Japan
Indian Parliament Shows Cruel Politics of Capital Punishment
Iraq Readies to Violate International Safeguards

Protest in Puerto Rico**Corrected**, Virginia looking at Expanding Application of Death Penalty, 'Truthiness', Declining Death Sentences, Biblical Bias, Egyptian Death Penalty Trial Raises Concerns with HRW

12 December 2006

The article that originally appeared here on Puerto Rico was factually incorrect. The linked story related is here: Protests in Florida and Puerto Rico. I deeply regret this error.

Protests in Puerto Rico were in fact related to an upcoming execution in Florida. Florida eventually went ahead with the execution.

Please see above for further stories related to this case. It has become a very significant story that will be marked in journals for years to come and may help herald the coming of a new age of attitude against the death penalty in Florida - but we'll have to wait and see.

Virginia , the second most lethal state in the US , is looking to make even more people eligible for death, according to WDBJ News.

The amendment is probably related to the infamous sniper shootings from a few years ago. In Virginia apparently, only the person who actually pulls the trigger (or stabs the knife etc.) is liable to face the death penalty. It must have been very disappointing for Virginians to be unable to execute a minor, or at least to the “law makers” – thus this proposed change of law.

There are general trends in international standards regarding the death penalty. One of which is not to extend the death penalty to more crimes. This amendment comes very close if not actually crossing this international standard.

CBS Edtior Dick Meyer writes on the phenomenon of ‘truthiness’ and emotivism in a revealing and easily understandable look at modern ethical issues and philosophical challenges.

US Figures show a further decline in the number of inmates living under sentence of death.

But it’s not all good news. Some states resumed executions after years of not executing and the Federal Government continued to press for death sentences in abolitionist states.

The presence of a Bible in the jury room, from which a death penalty was eventually pronounced, may be grounds for an appeal of sentence, the Sun Herald reports. Some suggest that the outcome may have been influenced depending on what version of the Bible was left in the room by a court bailiff, accidentally, but when he returned to retrieve it a juror asked him to leave it with them. A short time later they passed a death sentence upon the defendant.

According to the article, a similar case in Colorado and upheld by the state supreme court, threw-out a death penalty conviction.

While this is clearly an important issue, the results of this case may have far reaching consequences to other cases and how far to extend that which could be considered influential.

I think it’s a good thing.

And finally...

“ President Husni Mubarak should immediately order a retrial for three men convicted of playing a role in the October 2004 terrorist attacks in Sinai resort town of Taba, Human Rights Watch said today” according to an HRW press release issued today. The three men face a death penalty.

HRW alleges that torture and forced confessions, prolonged incommunicado detention and lack of consultation with counsel, have hampered any claims to a fair trial by the state.

The men were tried in an “exceptional State Security Court ” – the use of abnormal courts is also not accepted by international standards in Death Penalty trials. The court was set up under provisions of Egypt ’s Emergency Law.

According to the article, which also details some of the alleged abuses;

Egypt’s Emergency Law allows for prolonged incommunicado detention, in contravention of international legal standards on the right to a fair trial and to adequate representation by a lawyer. It is during such periods of prolonged incommunicado detention when detainees are at greatest risk of abuse, and it is during this time that all three defendants alleged having been tortured to force them to confess.  
 
“By allowing security services to hide suspects from the world for months at a time, Egypt ’s Emergency Law makes it easy for investigators to mistreat them with impunity,” Whitson said. “By the time the detainees see the light of day, it’s difficult to prove whether their allegations about being tortured into confessing are true.”

Guinea To Resume Executions? Former Hostages in Iraq Reject Death Penalty - Refuse to Testify

11 December 2006

There are concerns that Guinea may be about to restore executions and discontinue a moratorium that has held since 2001. IPS reports that these concerns are being raised because of rising levels of violence in the West African nation (reports are also in AllAfrica.com).

Guinea is still listed amongst retentionist countries by Amnesty International, as the usual requirement to be moved into Abolitionist de facto is a ten-year moratorium. There are some exceptions. Russia, for example, has advanced with less than ten years since its last execution since there are strong signs of a move towards total abolition.

Guinea is also among a very small group of coun tries that has re-established the death penalty after having abolished it. It was abolished in 1984, brought back in 2000 and used only once, in the execution of seven people, according to the article.

Very few countries that have abolished the death penalty have ever brought it back. The Philipines recently re-abolished it.

AlJazeera.net reports that the members of the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) - Norman Kember, from the United Kingdom and James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden (Canadian) who were kidnapped last year in Iraq, will refuse to testify at the trial of the kidnappers should the kidnappers face the death penalty.

According to the article:

The peace campaigners were reunited for the first time as they explained their decision.

"We ourselves have no desire for punishment or retribution. We lay aside any right we may have," Loney told Aljazeera. They are concerned their alleged captors could be executed. "It's the death penalty issue that has made us particularly active in trying to ensure that in some way or another, these guys are given clemency," Kember said.

"Iraq is desperately in need of reconciliation between the various groups, and if in some tiny way we can help that process, then that’s what we want to do."

This is the same humanity that took them to Iraq. It is special to see that this same love for peace continues even after what they went through.

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

10 December 2006

Today is the International Day for Human Rights. December 10th marks the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

As this is officially a blog, I'll make this a quick blog-type posting rather than my usual news profiles.

Today, as part of the International Human Rights Day, I took part in the Amnesty 24-Hours Write-A-Thon, I prepared greeting cards related to the Greet Cards campaign (see Amnesty UK), I wrote faxes upon faxes and emails to various governments and I signed petitions online.

Most of it I did sitting in Taro Grill on Queen Street, drinking copious cups of coffee. After that I went to a Starbucks, drank lattes and mint teas (when late enough to avoid caffeine). I wrote letters and cards to people all over the world and in every continent but Antarctica - but to be frank, I don't recall seeing an Amnesty country profile ever related to that continent :)

The Greetings Card campaign is especially interesting to me, as writing those cards means writing directly to Prisoners of Conscience and Political Prisoners. What's more it involves using other languages where possible (I did try to write something in cryllic form, but at best it must look like something grade-school to the recipient) - there was also some writing I could use in Arabic but I thought better of even attempting the caligraphy required for that and stuck to a message in English.

Writing letters is how Amnesty started and Amnesty gives reasons to write all year - but this is a special event that I look forward to each year.

These things all matter - and it doesn't matter if you're doing this as a part of the write-a-thon or simply taking action against the many grave human rights abuses committed all over the world each and every day. Every day should be a day to care about human rights. It doesn't matter if the rights you are helping to fight for are rights that you already have - if someone else is having their human rights oppressed, we all suffer.

I urge everyone who reads this to go to any Amnesty website - whether local or not - and look at the campaigns. Find a campaign that appeals to you and find out what you can do. Who you can write to or what petitions you can sign to make your voice heard. It does work - but it's more effective with more voices.

Happy Human Rights Day!

Here is a related video:

Executions Multiply Victims, Hope in Virginia, More Secret Executions in China

06 December 2006

Supreme Court Refuses to Lift Stay in Ohio, HRW goes on Mission in Saudi Arabia

04 December 2006

The Associated Press (as published in the International Herald Tribune) reports that the US Supreme Court has refused to lift an existing stay of execution for a man in Ohio who is presently part of a challenge to the method of execution. The challenge is based on the premise that lethal injection is a cruel and inhumane punishment.

Jerome Henderson, convicted of a 1985 murder, had still been treated by local authorities as if the execution was to go ahead, even being moved to the final cells before execution and receiving his requested meal. He will now be moved back into the normal cells.

This is good news in that the courts may be about to recognise a challenge that has been particularly heightened in recent years, following revelations that some of the 'knock out' drugs may not actually work and the victim may suffer a painful death in paralysis. These drugs have been considered inhumane even for veterinary use.

Human Rights Watch, the US-based human rights NGO, has begun a mission in Saudi Arabia to examine Human Rights abuse claims, according to The Qatar Penninsula Online. According to the article, "Saudi Arabia, ... has embarked on cautious reform programme under the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulazis who came to power last year."

This mission is very significant, as NGOs of this sort (e.g., Amnesty International), do not go into countries without official consent (where not welcome, these organisations rely on news sources and people who have left those places). The reason is for integrity and ability to communicate with these governments in order to bring about democratic change, as well as personal safety.

The Penninsula notes: "HRW made a first exploratory visit to Saudi Arabia in 2003. No other major rights groups have been able to conduct field-work in the vast desert country, an absolute monarchy with a religious police that imposes strict gender segregation."

The Mission will include an examination of the use of the death penalty.

Unaffordable Injustice, Intriguing Series on Death Penalty in North Dakota, Student Essays in Malaysia, More Good News in Kyrgyzstan

03 December 2006

The financial cost of the necessary public defender system in Georgia. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the strains on the public legal aid system for the state capital defendants, including $500,000 in lawyers fees in one notorious case recently. The result is that the state is going to reduce the applicable fees available to defence lawyers.

Perhaps the state feels this is a justifiable move, but it really does is reduce the incentive to established and experienced lawyers. While some will initially probably continue to do their best, they will be doing so pro bono and this is no way for a state to have a reliable defence for someone facing execution.

Journalist Donnell Preskey has just finished an interesting series of articles / interviews for KX News of North Dakota, profiling the use of the death penalty in that state. The interviews detail the history of capital punishment in the state. Capital Punishment was officially abolished in North Dakota in 1975, with the last execution taking place in 1905.

The series is posted in 4 parts:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

The Malaysian Star Online reports that the Human Rights Committee of the Bar Association of Malaysia is holding an essay competition for Malaysian students to write pro or con essays on the death penalty. There is no indication of where this competition is going but in opening-up the question of the death penalty to public examination we may be about to see a reconsideration by Malaysia. Malaysia is currently actively retentionist.

Kyrgyzstan appears even more likely to reconsider the death penalty, according to a recent report on the Institute for War and Peace Reporting and related to a story I discussed in late November. According to the article in IWPR, Kyrgyz public pressure could soon be moving the republic to abolition. Kyrgyzstan has had a moratorium in place since 1998 and right now it seems that the main obstacle is the administrative issue of commuting those currently on death row. The primary public criticism of the death penalty appears to be based in corruption of the legal system.