Category: Death penalty

Monthly meeting – update


The monthly meeting took place on Thursday, 12 June.

The following were discussed:

  • there was an update on the death penalty from Lesley and her report will be a separate post in a few days.  It was noted that the Devizes group were active with Hakamada Iwao who was probably the longest serving prisoner on death row but is now on release.  We are waiting advice from AIUK on the campaign in Belarus
  • an email has been received from Kenny Latunda Dada concerning North Korea and he has a speaker on that country.  This will be investigated
  • John Glen MP.  11 July has been confirmed for him to speak to the group which will be in the Methodist Church at 7:30.  It is restricted to members and supporters.  We are to let AIUK know of this event
  • Unfortunately the regional rep could not come to this meeting but is coming to the next
  • Peter said he had received no copy from anyone and was reluctant to write an entire newsletter.  It was agreed that it would wait until after 11 July
  • Magna Carta.  The group were very disappointed not to have heard from AI HQ following the contact Kate Allen had made with Robert Key.  Fiona is to write to the regional rep to complain.  Peter is to contact the manager of the MC event being organised by the cathedral.  It was unlikely that there would be any money coming from the City Council as they had awarded money to the Cathedral project
  • Cathedral service in November: Tony is to follow up
  • Film.  Omar has been agreed on as this years film.  More details in future.  To be shown on 4 December
  • The stall is on Saturday 21st!
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Sudan


The case of Meriam Ibrahim has shaken the world and there have been many calls for her to be released from prison.  The basic facts seem by now to be familiar although there are some differences on details depending where you look.  Over 150,000 signed Amnesty International’s petition and there has been widespread coverage including by the tabloid press in the UK.

She is to receive 100 lashes for adultery and it has to be made clear that it is not adultery as we in the west know it – that is having sexual relations with, in this case, a man not her husband – but the act of marrying a Christian.  In two years she will be executed for apostasy.  On 27 may she gave birth whilst chained to her bed in what has been described as primitive conditions.

The issue of the death penalty for apostasy seems far from clear and some experts say that the relevant hadith actually allows someone to renounce their faith without the penalty of death.  Others say differently.  Another relevant fact which did not receive that much coverage is that it was a complaint made by a relative that caused her to be arrested and tried for apostasy.

Of course Sudan sees it differently and the embassy in Washington DC claims that her real name is not Meriam Ibrahim but Abrar Elhadi Muhammad Abugadeen although it does not explain the significance of this.  What is significant in their view is that it is not a political or religious issue but a legal one.  The problem with this in an Islamic country is distinguishing the difference particularly where the president is keen to make Sudan an Islamic state.  Indeed, one commentator suggests that it is an attempt to distract people from other problems and to be able to claim he is a ‘defender of Islam.’

The media has for the most part, focused on this one woman and ignored the wider context.  An exception is Time Magazine and an article by Kimberly L Smith who argues that ‘fundamentally, the crisis in Sudan is not one of religion but a complete disregard for the dignity of life, particularly female life’ (May 16, 2014).  She goes on to describe in horrific detail the treatment of women and some men in that country because they had the wrong skin colour.  Her descriptions come from working for 10 years in the Sudan.

Once Meriam became a cause célèbre and featured on the front pages it was not long before politicians joined in and all three UK party leaders were loud in their condemnations.  By contrast, a quick look at Amnesty’s web site under, say, Saudi Arabia, reveals two recent cases which are relevant.  One is of a Filipino women sentenced – after an unfair trial with no legal representation and who cannot speak Arabic – to 18 months and 300 lashes of which 50 have already been administered (23 May).  Another is an outrageous sentence of 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison given to a man who set up an on-line forum allegedly because it ’insulted Islam’ (7 May).  Both are prisoners of conscience.   There are pages of these but when did you hear of protests from our party leaders about any of them?

It is encouraging to see international protests and we hope for a successful result.  But in a thoughtful piece in the Guardian by a Sudanese writer, Nesrine Malik, she argues that these public interventions can be counterproductive.  There is the sensitivity she says of Sudan being an ex-colony.  She also argues that a lot of these dramatic sounding sentences are because the ‘authorities in a sudden fit of piety pass the harshest sentences, ones rarely carried out, to prove the Islamic project still exists.’  Whereas a private phone call would be made to Saudi Arabia or Bahrein, David Cameron and the other leaders chose a more public condemnation which according to Malik went down badly in Khartoum.

Condemning barbaric sentences is right but there does need to be a degree of even handedness.  There were 21 executions in Sudan last year, only slightly fewer than Saudi which are carried out in public.  Publicly condemning one country while courting another is not helpful.

 

 

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Oklahoma


The botched execution this week of Clayton Lockett in #Oklahoma has shocked many people around the world.  The focus has mainly been on the time it took for him to die – 43 minutes – during which he was seen to writhe in agony and struggle against the straps of the gurney.  Towards the end, the curtains were drawn across the execution chamber and it was reported later that he had died from a ‘reported heart attack.’

The southern states of the USA have a particular devotion to the death penalty with #Texas in the lead.  The penalty has a high degree of support from sections of the public despite the lack of any evidence that it has a deterrent effect.  On the blog posts of an Oklahoma newspaper there is a selection of comments both against and for the execution.  There are many Americans who find the process barbaric and the fact that it took Lockett 43 minutes to die is especially upsetting.  But there are plenty who relish it, for example;

‘how can people feel pity for these cons?’

‘I am glad he died a slow and painful death.  I only wish he suffered more.’

‘NO SYMPATHY from me.’

‘I only hope this happens to each and every other inmate where the death sentence is carried out.’

And so on and so forth.  This is a selection and there are people who found it repugnant.  Although the particular circumstances of this man’s death has caused a storm of outrage, the fact remains that many people are being executed and in the southern states at least, it remains in rude health.  The posts show that a significant number of people relished the suffering and were not afraid of expressing this, albeit anonymously.  On another blog post we reported on the governor of Texas’s use of the penalty as a draw for people to come to his state – a kind of promotional tool.

Although slow progress is being made with abolition, it will be many years before it is removed from states like Oklahoma and Texas.  But why focus on this when the level of executions in China (a state secret but known to thousands) and Iran are at very much higher levels?  The difference is that the USA is a leading nation and sets the moral tone in all sorts of situations.  It is hard to persuade other countries in the world to stop this practice if the USA is still very publicly using it.

Amnesty is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances.

 

 

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Texas


It is sad to record that a Mexican, Ramiro Hernandes Llanas  has been executed in #Texas.  This is despite many misgivings about the mental capacity of Ramiro.  It is Governor Rick Perry’s 275th execution in the state which must be some kind of a record.

Most cities, towns and states promote their location as an ideal place to live.  They say how attractive it is, how well connected it is to the highway or rail network, they talk about the culture and leisure activities on offer and so on.  The governor of Texas by contrast promotes the use of the death penalty.  In an article in the New Yorker in February, following a decision by the governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, to suspend the death penalty there, Rick Perry was quoted as saying ‘vote with your feet and move to Texas, where the death penalty is thriving.’   Thriving?  In what was described as an emotional speech, he added ‘Come to Texas, the death penalty is alive and well here.’  ‘We believe in the sanctity of death.’  It is truly extraordinary to be promoting this barbaric penalty as an encouragement to move to your state.

There appear to be several reasons to explain why Texas executes more than any other state in the Union.  One is that judges are elected and accordingly have to respond to the wishes of those who elected them.  Presumably, there are many who see a benefit to executions and hence elect those who campaign for it to be used.  It is suggested that the quality of judges appointed by this method is lower than in other states as evidenced by the failure by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to publish most of its death penalty decisions.

A frequent problem in the cases we have asked you to write about, is the poor quality of the lawyers representing the accused many of whom do not have any relevant experience of murder trials.

Although Texas does not sentence more people to death than other states, it does execute more because it has speeded up the process from conviction to execution.

But where does this desire to use the penalty come from?  In his book The American Future, a History (Bodley Head), Simon Schama describes the violent history and founding of the state.  It essentially involved the removal of the indigent Mexican population and the introduction of slaves.  Following the near liquidation of the native Indians, then the expulsion of the Mexicans and the introduction of slavery, it is a state where there is a ‘cultural tradition of dehumanising certain groups of people’ (Ned Walpin, Frontline, Online).  This applies to all the states of the former Confederacy and accounts for the fact that 90% of all executions are carried out within them (ibid).  It is further argued that there is a link between executions and lynching, both of which go to show ‘who’s boss’ and as a means to exclude certain groups from society.  It is no coincidence that this latest appeal is for Ramiro a Mexican.  Gradually, executions replaced the illegal lynchings but served the same purpose of satisfying the predominantly white population’s desire to exclude black and Mexican people from society.

There is a lot of debate in America surrounding Rick Perry’s faith which is said to be strong and genuine.  He started life as a Methodist but has recently become an Evangelical and moved away from GW Bush’s church in Austin to support a mega church at Lake Hill.  He is in favour of teaching creationism and intelligent design and regards evolution as ‘just a theory’.

All this matters because he wants to run for president of the USA and so his attitude to execution and what that says about his political and liberal beliefs could be important.

Amnesty is opposed to the death penalty in all cases and it is unsettling to see it being promoted, not as some kind of necessary evil, but as though it is a thriving industry to be encouraged and lauded.  Poor quality advocacy, packed juries and a dismissal of proper analysis by the appeals process results in many unnecessary deaths.

Sources:

Frontline, Online; http://www.pbs.org

The American Spectator

The New Yorker

Texas April 14

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Death Penalty summary


This is the April summary for the group on the #deathpenalty and its use around the world prepared by Lesley (Word).

Death penalty summary April 14

 

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March meeting minutes


Minutes of the March meeting below, thanks to Karen.  They will all be found on the meetings tab above.

March meeting

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Retrial for Japanese man on death row for 46 years


Hakamada iwaoIt is difficult to credit that a man has been on death row in Japan for a total of 46 years.  Some people reading this may not have been born when he was incarcerated.  Hakamada Iwao is to be retried because the key evidence against him – blood stained clothing – has been tested and the DNA is not his.  UPDATE: it looks as though Hakamada has been released (28 March).

The Salisbury group has been campaigning for Iwao to be released and many people have signed our petitions outside the Library and at other events.  Taken with the release of Ashtiana in Iran (see earlier post) this demonstrates that campaigning can make a difference.

The situation in Japan for people on death row is not at all civilised and come as a surprise for a country that gives every impression of being a modern democracy.  The prisoner does not know from one day to the next when they are to be hanged.  The average time on death row is 7 years and 11 months.  Conditions on death row are, according to Amnesty ‘a harsh regime of solitary confinement in toilet sized cells.’  Exercise is only allowed twice a week and three times in summer.

Japan secures convictions after long hours of interrogation with no lawyers present and with physical mistreatment regularly used.  Secrecy surrounds the process and until recently, no announcement was made of an execution having taken place, only an annual figure issued.  There is little protest made within Japan about the treatment of prisoners or of the whole process which is contrary to the International Covenant on Civil and Human Rights.

Amnesty is opposed to the death penalty in all cases.  Once again, an unsatisfactory legal process and fresh evidence, reveals the risk that an innocent man would by now be dead.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/27/japanese-man-freed-death-row-retrial

 

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Sakineh released. Iran


News this week that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who was convicted of adultery and complicity in the murder of her

Portrait of Sakineh prepared by local support Paul Donavan
Portrait of Sakineh prepared by local artist Paul Donovan

husband and sentenced to death by stoning in 2006, is to be given ‘a leave’ from prison by the Iranian authorities.  The story was reported in the Guardian (20 March).

Readers of this site will know that the Amnesty group in Salisbury has campaigned on many occasions over the last several years on behalf of Sakineh.  It was part of a worldwide campaign.  We have sent cards to her prison, asked people to sign petitions and group members have written to the powers that be in Iran asking for her release.  Many hundreds of Salisbury people signed our petitions.  We – and the people of Salisbury who signed cards and petitions – can therefore claim to have played a small part in the successful outcome of this case.

The case caused a storm of outrage when it became national news.  For many, it was the first time that the full horror of what stoning actually involves was brought home to them.  Indeed, the group had to explain to many people what in fact it involved.  Men are buried up to their necks and women up to the waist.  Stones are delivered to the site which are neither too small nor so large that they would kill in one go.  This in a country that wants to be in the nuclear age.

Cube designed to illustrate the approximate size of stones used in stoning
Cube designed to illustrate the approximate size of stones used in stoning

Sakineh was world wide news but the scale of executions by a variety of means is at an astonishing level in Iran.  It is second only to China in the number carried out.  They are on course for nearly a thousand this year dispelling the optimism surrounding Rouhani’s election last year.

Nevertheless, it does show that concerted international pressure can and does have the occasional beneficial effect even on the most isolated regimes.

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Iran


Readers of this blog and its predecessor, will recall that we have had many occasions to feature the situation in Iran, the3925 worlds second biggest executioner of its citizens.  Statistics are hard to come by and those issued by Iran itself are an underestimate.  Recent figures reveal 165 known executions in the first 2 months of 2014 which equates to just short of 1000 for the year if it carries on (Source: Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre, IHRDC).   Not only is the level of execution high but they are carried out in public, sometimes with a number of people being hanged at the same time.

We have campaigned against this in the past and in particular, the particularly nasty practice of stoning people to death.  The three methods of execution used in Iran are hanging – the most common – throwing people off cliffs, and stoning.  Children are executed as well, despite denials, and they are kept until their eighteenth birthday before the deed is done.

When Rouhani came to power, there was a wave of optimism in the West and with it a feeling that some kind of normalised relationship could be established with Iran.  An example is a BBC report of 11 November last year which quoted Jack Straw as saying ‘Rouhani was courteous, engaging, very straightforward, with a nice smile playing on his lips’.  There was hope that at last there was a moderate politician in Iran and progress could be made to have dealings with that country in a sensible way.

It is in this spirit of hope that an article in the New York Times this week under the headline ‘Mercy and Web Slow the Number of Executions in Iran’ by Thomas Erdbrink might provide some good news.  He spoke of a ‘growing distaste’ within Iran for capital punishment and he put this down in part to the spread of social media.  ‘The increasing number of executions has made the middle class upset’ a lawyer is quoted as saying.  The story was built around someone who managed to raise the funds necessary to pay the victim’s family enough to secure his release.

However, a search on the net reveals that the story is somewhat distorted and that if anything, the rate of executions is increasing under Mr Rouhani rather than diminishing.  A full report of the situation in Iran is published by the International Federation of Human Rights, Fidh and can be accessed at: http://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/Rapport_Iran_final_pdf  Please be warned there are some disturbing images.

It was hoped to post something positive about the country but the facts seem to point to the reality of life in Iran is much as it always was.

The group campaigns against the death penalty and if you wish to join us see the ‘Joining’ tab at the top of this site.

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