Hawaii Federal Death Penalty Case, Texas County Moratorium, China & Gallows For Sale
31 October 2006
Hawaii, abolitionist since the 1950s, is about to hold its first death penalty trial (under Federal legislation) since abolition. This case highlights the unfairness in application of the death penalty, with two defendants, only one of whom is facing a capital trial. The Honolulu Advertiser reports that the defendant is an Army Specialist, his wife is the other, non-capital defendant. It seems remarkably offensive to me, to use a federal death penalty statute in a state that is abolitionist. The reasons for abolishing capital punishment have to do with many things - perceptions of fairness of trials, perceptions of the legality of state-killings, moral arguments for total prohibition etc. - but these reasons, having been endorsed by the state, should be reflected in the application even of Federal statutes - it should not be a back-door way to execution in an abolitionist territory.
On a lighter note, Chicago's former gallows are up for sale. The Washington Post reported today that the gallows, currently owned by a Wild West Theme park, have been put up for sale. These same gallows are particularly infamous in that they are reported to have been used to execute labor organizers "convicted" in "the Haymarket Affair" (see the article for details).
Another positive development, the County Commissioners Court's 4-1 vote Monday for a resolution against the death
penalty in the Texas county of El Paso. The El Paso Times reported today that the vote reflected testimony from victims of crime as well as the wrongly convicted. According to the El Paso Times: "The vote made El Paso County the second Texas county behind Austin's Travis County to endorse the resolution, which actually calls for a moratorium on executions until a commission studies the administration of the death penalty"
Finally, I want to clarify comments made yesterday in respect to China's moves to limit the number of authorised executions. The news was in fact more positive than I had realised. While China is still a long way from abolition, the new legal requirement, in effect come January 2007, requires that ALL death sentences be affirmed by the Supreme Court. This should, hopefully, severely limit the number of executions - however it is not clear to me yet (as it would be hard to tell right now), if China means to require all capital sentences be given a full hearing or that they would be automatically endorsed if not appealed within a certain timeframe. China has a massive number of prisoners facing death (which I extrapolate simply from the massive number of actual executions known to have been carried-out - no official figures are available as it is deemed a state secret). This will be a very interesting story to follow for the next few months until implementation and to follow later to ensure gradual declines in the use of the death penalty.
The Special Rapporteurs of the UN
30 October 2006
The BBC has recently produced a three-part series on UN Special Rapporteurs. This three-part series follows Rapporteurs on Racism, Defence of Human Rights, and Violence Against Women. It's a revealing set of shows that really explains the role and experiences of Rapporteurs. I would have liked to have heard on on the Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial and Summary Executions (for obvious reasons). Maybe that will come up another time.
Here are links to the reports:
Part One - Racism
Part Two - Defence of Human Rights
Part Three - Violence Against Women
On the Death Penalty front, Good news out of Vietnam, that a female prisoner on Death Row has received mercy after becoming pregnant while on death row. Vietnamese and International Safeguards prohibit the execution of pregnant women or new mothers. Just how she became pregnant is under question, as her husband was serving time in another prison at the time.
To give a little background on this:
Part C of Article 1 of the ECOSOC Safeguards states:
"Persons below 18 years of age at the time of the commission of the crime
shall not be sentenced to death, nor shall the death sentence be carried out on
pregnant women, or on new mothers, or on persons who have become insane"
According to Amnesty International (I cannot find an online source for the Vietnamese Criminal Code), Vietnam, having ratified many international Human Rights treaties, has legal prohibitions on the use of the death penalty on pregnant women:
[Amnesty International] notes that there are already some safeguards on its use in the current Criminal Code which should be retained. These include the inapplicability of the death penalty to minors or pregnant women, as well as the exclusion of people with mental illness from criminal liability if they commit socially dangerous acts.
Botswana is heating-up debate about the death penalty, with politicians in power refusing to consider abolition on the grounds that it would 'get them voted out of office.' Botswana made Amnesty headlines after Modisane Ping was executed in secret on April 1st, after an outcry over a similar event in 2001.
Amnesty's Blog Plea
29 October 2006
Amnesty International announced a worldwide plea to Bloggers this past week, calling on bloggers around the world to bring attention to online repression.
The appeal includes information on several people in various parts of the world who have been detained and imprisoned because of emails or blogs posted to the internet. These emails and blogs have been reporting news items - not advocating violence. What is more - major online providers have been complicit in state prosecutions of these people. Yahoo and Google are named specifically as providing information to state authorities or to submitting to state demands for censorship. Google went to the extent of providing a state-sanitised version of the search engine to prevent the Chinese population at large from being able to find information publicly available in nearly any other country in the world. In particular the Chinese government is sensitive to issues relating to Tiannamen Square. I would be interested to know what specific keywords are alarming the Chinese authorities.
The Urgent Actions associated with the plea, are for the following:
Chinese journalist Shi Tao used his Yahoo! account to email a US-based website about an internal government directive instructing journalists how to handle media coverage of the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for "illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities." Yahoo! provided information to the government that was used in his prosecution.
Tunisian lawyer and human rights defender Mohammed Abbou is serving a three and a half year prison sentence largely for publishing articles critical of the Tunisian authorities on the internet.
Vietnamese political dissident Truong Quoc Huy was first arrested in October 2005 with two other young people after chatting on a democracy and human rights website. He was held incommunicado for nine months then released, but on 18 August 2006 he was rearrested in an internet cafe in Ho Chi Minh City, where he had logged on to a chatroom. His whereabouts remain unknown and no charges have been publicised.
(source: http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGPOL300552006 )
More information can be found at: http://irrepressible.info
Puerto Rico Retains Abolition Despite US Federal Effort
28 October 2006
Puerto Rico, aboltionist since 1929, with its last execution in 1927, has avoided losing its abolitionist status after US Federal Prosecutors sought but failed to obtain a death penalty against a man convicted of murder. According to the Washington Post, this trial has brought to the main Puerto Rican's heartfelt opposition to the death penalty. Puerto Rico, as a dependant to the United States, is subject to federal US laws, which contain death penalty provisions (a federal death penalty was applied, for example, in the Timothy McVeigh case). In May, the Puerto Rican legislature reaffirmed the state's opposition to the death penalty.
Big News in China and Updates to the Death Penalty Links
27 October 2006
Fridays, traditionally Friday afternoons, are reserved for news releases that typically want to be buried in the press. People's minds are on the weekend and leaving work early. Their minds are typically not really about the news. That's one of the advantages of a blog. It'll still be here Monday.
This Friday however there was some big news out of China. China has begun to review legislation to return the Supreme Court to its former position as the final judicial point of review for death penalty cases. The Supreme court used to have this role, but it was lost during amendments made during heavy 'crackdowns' in 1983 by the government that resulted in the loss of this role to lesser courts. I.e., the level of the court which pronounced the death sentence, was also the level of court to which a convicted person could at most appeal. The result was a massive increase in executions. Although this is far from the ideal of abolition and it may only serve to release some of the pressure on China to abolish capital punishment. There is no perfect way to allow state sanctioned killing so there will never be a perfect way to allow capital punishment. If this legislation passes it will come into effect on 1 January 2007. This is at least a step in the direction of reducing the numbers killed. It is, also, a step in the right direction for human rights, as defined by International agreements.
On a more pessimistic note, the Wisconsin referendum appears to be heading towards reinstatement of the death penalty (when DNA evidence is tied to the case). It's hard to understand this logic. The killer who acts in the heat of the moment and spills blood, will be more likely to get the death penalty than the hired killer who is careful and wears gloves and disposes of any DNA evidence successfully. DNA is essential in helping to free innocents, but it should not be taken as gospel in proving murder. Wisconsin has a proud history of abolition and it is very, very disheartening to see predictions that the state is looking to start to killing people after 150 years.
Again in the United States, more positive news: aldermen in St Louis are calling for a moratorium on the Death Penalty until 2010. Missouri would then join the ranks of several other states who have recognised the severe problems with the system of capital punishment. The bill in the state had originally been proposed by a Republican Representative, Bill Deeken, but had "never made it out of a House Committee" despite popularity and a strong number of cosponsors. According the the Kansas Star article, "Illinois and New Jersey currently have moratoriums. California and North Carolina are studying the death penalty."
Finally, to get to the last part of my headline, I have added two more links to the Death Penalty Links page: Hands Off Cain, an Italian-based international effort towards abolition, and Cities for Life, a Spanish-based effort by cities around the world to speak out against capital punishment and to celebrate the right to life (this is not to be confused with issues related to abortion - an issue I keep completely separate from my thoughts on Capital Punishment).
Online Again
25 October 2006
Taking a brief break from my Death Penalty Reporting, I'm letting everyone know that after some difficulties with a couple of third-party providers for a working feedback form, I now have a form which seems to be working quite well.
If you have left feedback or signed my guestbook before today (25 October 2006) please try again. Some data may have been lost as a result of some server difficulties.
I am also still waiting to see my page show-up on any search engines. I have made submissions to several engines and through one or two free 'submission engines' but have yet to see any finds.
I suppose this is the normal trial and tribulation of an amateur website owner/designer.
Death Penalty and other serious blog updates will resume tomorrow.
More Updates on the Death Penalty
22 October 2006
GOOD NEWS FROM ISLAMABAD! Pakistan has stayed the execution of Briton Mirza Tahir Hussain after intervention from the President following a clemency appeal from Prince Charles and a broad-ranging campaign from many other groups including Amnesty International.
Mirza Tahir Hussain had been sentenced to death by a religious court DESPITE having already been cleared by Pakistan's High Court.
There has been considerable controversy over this case, including suggestions that outside parties had unduly influenced the family of the victim from accepting Blood Money in exchange for the life of Mr. Hussain - a common practice in Islamic Pakistan.
The news is not all good however - all that has been granted right now is a stay of execution. The fact that this execution had been scheduled to happen during a state visit from Prince Charles may mean that once the visit has completed there may be less pressure to prevent the execution. The current stay expires 31 December. Pakistan claims that it is now re-examining the case to consider a Presidential pardon. You can take action on this - see Amnesty's Appeal.
In other news, Wisconson is preparing to vote on a referrendum to reinstate the death penalty. Wisonson's last state-sanctioned execution was in 1851. It abolished capital punishment in 1853. Now is no time to start.
Rwanda, which had recently announced intentions to abolish the death penalty, looks to be securing that goal. According to the Angola Press, all political parties in Rwanda are now in favour of abolition. The legislation has yet to pass.
In South Africa, which abolished the death penalty in its 1996 constitution following the end of Aparteid (although FW De Clerk had imposed a moratorium previous to that - the last execution taking place in 1989), appears to be publicly examining the question again. A judge has brought this debate to the public by saying there should be debate about bringing it back, but that a referrendum would be needed as it would require a constitutional change. South Africa continues to have a high rate of violent crime and this debate is probably related to public alarm at crime levels. In my opinion, there are much more realistic ways to combat violent crime in South Africa, including dealing with extreme poverty, continuing societal inequalities and working to end regional instability in particular from their neighbour Zimbabwe. South Africa should be a shining example to to the rest of Africa. High crime rates and HIV/AIDS unfortunately continue to blight this nation.
Namibia has also made parallel news - Almost identical to South Africa in that capital punishment was abolished at independence, the death penalty is making political debate again as the Minister of Justice has announced that it should continue to be a matter of public debate.
El Mundo Loco
21 October 2006
So George W Bush has finally started talking about the war in Iraq as a little like Vietnam. This is despite the length of time that we have seen so many stories on the US Military falling short on recruitment numbers, endlessly extending deployments and going to the extent of banning footage of the return of fallen soldiers; Despite the claims they make to be doing it out of respect for the families, let's be honest - it's just because it's bad PR to show your electorate the bodies of their children who would, in all likelihood, never of set foot in the middle east if it weren't for the decisions made by these politicians in dubious circumstances. I'm not saying that politicians aren't allowed to make mistakes, but there has to be some sort of due diligence when it comes to starting a war. Politicians are people that have been put in positions of huge responsibility and so far this administration has not only thumbed their noses at International Law, but gone so far as to deny centuries of common law that dates at least as far back as the Magna Carta.
Here are all 3 parts of a BBC Documentary series called "The Power of Nightmare" that as with anything you see - should be taken as possible and frighteningly probable.
Good News and Bad News in the Progress of Abolition of the Death Penalty
20 October 2006
Surveying recent news items, it's clear that abolition continues to be a difficult topic not only in retentionist countries, but even in completely abolitionist countries.
While several countries and states continue to examine abolition, politicians and politically interested people are willing still to bring the possibility of reversal on the death penalty into elections again as a means of 'looking tough on crime.'
This is despite a lack of any evidence of deterrent effect on crime in regions that retain the death penalty - in fact it looks more likely to be the reverse - that it is an aggravating factor on society - increasing violence and in turn making more murderers.
Jamaica is presently making the death penalty into an election issue. While Jamaica is retentionist, it has not been able to execute many prisoners recently while cases make their appeals all the way to the Privy Council. Pressure from former colonial powers in much of the caribbean is a positive influence towards abolition - the death penalty is viewed by much of the world as backwards in a state respectful of human rights. It is not only a vulgar form of revenge and a sign of a failing faith in a correctional system, but it is an absolute violation of human rights. It is a power that no state should be able to exercise upon prisoners (citizen or not) and only plays to the votes of the less informed.
By this I mean to speak of the fact that there is ample information now available to prove that there is no 'special deterrent effect' to be gained from the death penalty. There is already some evidence to show that it corrupts society - no well-intentioned politician who is aware of this fact would back a death penalty - so long as the goal is to reduce crime and make a better society.