Here is the monthly death penalty report thanks to Lesley.
Death penalty report
Death penalty
DEATH PENALTY SUMMARY – JUNE 2014
General
- USA
- Tennessee – are reported to be considering bringing back the electric chair in the light of the recent difficulties with the use of lethal injections
- Wyoming – are reported to be considering using a firing squad
- New Hampshire – disappointingly, the second attempt at the repeal of the death penalty was defeated in the Senate on 22nd May. The death sentence remains.
- Missouri – a stay of execution was granted for Russell Bucklew on 22nd May following his claim that a congenital illness would probably cause additional suffering under the current regime of lethal injection
- A report appeared on Google that the US Supreme Court has said states must look beyond an intelligence test score in borderline cases of mental disability to determine whether a death row inmate is eligible to be executed
Urgent Actions
- #Sudan – Meriam Ibrahim – a Christian woman has been sentenced to hang (and to a flogging) for the ‘apostasy’ of marrying a non-muslim, and for refusing to renounce her Christian faith. An AI email UA was circulated to the DPLWG on 26th May. Information in media on 31.5.14 that she was to be released but there are doubts as to the truth of this. Note – Nesrine Malik expressed concern in the Guardian (4.6.14) that western media are harming Meriam’s chances of release. Initial local opposition had been having an effect, and Government pride is an issue. She criticised David Cameron’s approach. Latest news – Meriam gave birth in chains. She is to be hanged in 2 years.
- # USA – Florida – Michael Duane Zak – UA 140/14 – has exhausted his ordinary court appeals and is seeking executive commutation of his death sentence of life imprisonment. Circulated to DPLWG 28.5.14 (this month’s Urgent Action)
- #Iraq – UA 151/13 – Osama Jamal ‘Abdullah Mahdi’s files are now with the office of the President for review. If his death sentence is ratified, he could be executed at any time. Circulated to DPLWG 30.5.14
Campaigning
- Reggie Clemons – no further news (Website: justiceforreggie.com)
- Hakamada Iwao – information has been received from Caroline Butler that the Devizes Group have been in contact with AI in Japan in order to send cards and messages to Hakamada. Would the Salisbury Group like to do so?
- #Belarus – a response has now been received from SCT with contact details of Barry Hay for seeking further advice – an email was sent on 10th June. Note:
Belarus is the last UN member state in Europe to have retained the death penalty. In 2013 there were no reported executions, but the death penalty was reinstated this year, and to date two men are believed to have been executed. Death row prisoners receive no advance notice and are executed by a bullet through the back of the head. This month the UN Human Rights Council will be focusing on the human rights situation in Belarus – making it a particularly appropriate time for action by Amnesty.
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.
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
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 