Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire
Promoting human rights from Salisbury UK
July 2025
We are pleased to attach the latest report on the use of the death penalty around the world for the period
mid-June to mid-July thanks to group member Lesley for its production. Note that China does not appear because although it is believed to execute more of its citizens than the rest of the world put together, details are a state secret.
Picture of prisoners lining up to be executed in Iran.
June 2025
We are pleased to attach the report for the period mid-May to mid-June thanks to group member Lesley for the work in compiling it. It is longer than usual reflecting the increasing activity in the US following President Trump’s actions on the use of the penalty. As ever, we must point out that the world’s biggest user of the penalty – China – who is believed to execute thousands of its citizens, is not present in the report because details are a state secret.
June 2025
Richard Glossip has been on death row in Oklahoma for 27 years and has been on the verge of execution nine times. His case went to the Supreme Court who found that a key witness had lied and that prosecutors had withheld information. The decision was vacated and Oklahoma’s Attorney General, Gentner Drummond, has ordered a new trial which is promised to be fair. He made clear however that he was not proclaiming his innocence.
The case illustrates a problem with the justice system if evidence which may cast a different light on a case is withheld by the police or prosecutors particularly evidence which is exculpatory. No one would pretend the UK system of justice is perfect but the system of discovery which demands that the defence team has access to relevant evidence before the trial, has been a key development in recent years. Too often in US trials by contrast, lack of this information or candour by the prosecutors has been a factor.
Richard Glossip (pictured, theintercept.com) may by now have been executed. At one planned execution it was discovered that the lethal drugs to be used did not match execution protocols which led to a suspension of executions in the state for seven years.
Glossip’s case is a clear example why capital punishment should not be used by a state. Simply put, mistakes cannot be rectified. Amnesty is against capital punishment in all circumstances. The US is the only state on the American continent to retain it. There is little evidence that it is effective. It brutalises the state. It is incredibly expensive. And as has been shown in the Glossip case, if false evidence was used to secure a conviction, then the mistake cannot be put right. In the USA around 130 people on death row have been found to be innocent since 1973. The country joins some reprehensible regimes such as China, Iran, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia which use the penalty against huge numbers of its citizens – in the case of China an unknown number since it is a state secret but it is believed to be thousands.
Sources: Death Penalty Information Center; NBC News; The Attorney General’s office; AP News; The Oklahoman.
Recent posts:
May 2025
The BBC reported that in 2024, 901 people were believed to be executed in Iran representing a 6% increase over 2023 when 853 were put to death. 31 were women. The chosen method is hanging often in public. The main reasons are murder, rape and drug crimes but also the vague ‘corruption on earth’ used to describe people opposed to he theocracy. Minority groups are also hard hit.
There seems no let up with 343 put to death in the first four months of this year representing a significant increase over the same period in 2024.
Iran joins other countries like China, North Korea and Vietnam which use the penalty extensively. Details of numbers are a secret in those countries. In China it is believed to be thousands. The killing spree has been widely condemned by a range of agencies.
Sources: BBC, Death Penalty Information Center, France 24, Amnesty International.
May 2025
We are pleased to attach the minutes and news of the group’s activities thanks to group member Lesley for the work in preparing them. There is a list of future events at towards the end and if you are thinking of making contact, one of those would be a good opportunity. We shall be at People in the Park in Elizabeth Gardens, Salisbury on Saturday 17th from around 10:00 all day.
May 2025
We are pleased to attach the monthly death penalty report thanks to group member Lesley for the work in compiling it. As ever we remind our readers that China is believed to execute more of its citizens than the rest of the world combined but information is a state secret.
April 2025
We are pleased to attach the group’s death penalty report thanks to group member Lesley for the work in compiling it. In a previous post (see below) we refer to the Amnesty annual report for 2024 which shows that while the number of countries using the report has held steady, the number of executions has risen markedly. We do not know of the huge number executed in China since the statistics are a state secret.
March 2025
Hakamada Iwao has been released after spending a record 46 years on death row which is believed to be the longest such case in the world. He has been given $1.4m in compensation which hardly compensates for a lifetime of privation. He is now 89.
It has to be remembered that the Japanese system is particularly barbaric since there is no warning when the execution will actually take place. It means he has spent those years in prison awaiting an execution which could have happened at any moment.
Another factor is that he was never guilty. It is yet another example of police interrogation methods at the time. He was intensively interrogated and abused over a period of 20 days with no lawyer present. He was coerced into signing a confession – later withdrawn – and other documents were forged by the police. It is also probable that bloodstained clothing was tampered with by them as well.
People who argue for the death penalty have to face the fact of mistakes which cannot be rectified. People sometimes argue that why would someone sign a confession if they weren’t guilty? They forget that isolation, bad treatment, psychological pressure and constant interrogation can break most people.
It is disappointing to note that 83% of Japanese still support the penalty and increase of 2.3 percentage points from the last survey according to an article in the Asahi Shimbun. It does point out however that many people are unaware of the facts surrounding the penalty.
Amnesty opposes the death penalty in all circumstances.
Sources: Asahi Shimbun, Guardian, Amnesty International
[Some spellings are Hakamata]
March 2025
We are pleased to attach the latest report on this topic thanks to group member Lesley for the work on compiling it. The situation in US is mixed with the new president wanting to widen the scope of the penalty. To note as ever that China executes more than any other country but statistics are a state secret.
February 2025
The case of Richard Glossip in Oklahoma raises a number of interesting issues concerning the death penalty in the USA and in this case, the state of Oklahoma. In a 5-3 decision in Glossip v. Oklahoma issued on 25 February, the Supreme Court judges ruled that the prosecutors had ‘violated their duty to correct false testimony’. The prosecutors had also ‘suppressed material evidence concerning their star witness, Justin Sneed’ who actually committed the murder.
The case involved the murder in 1997 of Barry van Treese the owner of a motel. Sneed confessed to the killing and agreed a plea bargain claiming that Glossip had instructed him to carry out the murder. This saved him from execution. There are a number of factors which has made this a case attracting international attention.
There was very little corroboration evidence apart from the testimony of Sneed. Sneed’s mental state was not revealed to the defence (defense) team, nor was his untrustworthiness or that he had lied to the police. Glossip’s legal team has discovered that Sneed had discussed recanting his testimony before the original trial and since. This had not been revealed to them. Another not unusual factor is the doubtful quality of his defence counsel.
There is not doubt that Glossip has suffered much in the 27 years. He has had no less than nine execution dates and has eaten three ‘last meals’.
It is being said that this case will not have wider effects because so many elements are unusual. But it does highlight the problem of the death penalty. Had any one of the nine actually taken place, there would have been no chance of an appeal. If the criminal system has people willing to withhold evidence, then any chance of a fair trial is unlikely. It is also unwise to convict someone of the ultimate legal penalty without certainty which must mean at the very least, corroborative and trustworthy evidence. A defendant must also have first class attorneys to defend him. The testimony of an unreliable witness should be treated with great caution.
A new trial has been ordered.
Sources:
World Campaign Against the Death Penalty; BBC, The Hill.
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 