Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire
Promoting human rights from Salisbury UK
The group’s monthly death penalty report is now available thanks to group member Lesley for compiling it. It contains link to the annual report produced by Amnesty International. Note that China executes more of its citizens than any other country in the world but details and statistics are a state secret.
The group cannot meet or do any face to face campaigning at present for obvious reasons. We hope to be back in action later in the year.
Update: 10 May A report from India commenting on Amnesty’s report can be read here.
There was a small decrease in executions in 2019 Amnesty International reports amounting to 657 executions in 20 countries, a decrease of 5% compared to 2018 (at least 690). This is the lowest number of executions that Amnesty International has recorded in at least a decade. At the end of 2019, 106 countries (a majority of the world’s states) had abolished the death penalty in law for all crimes, and 142 countries (more than two-thirds) had abolished the death penalty in law or practice. The following are some of the key points taken from the full Amnesty report. Looking at the picture overall, there has been slight progress around the world if we exclude China.
Most executions took place in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt – in that order.
China remained the world’s leading executioner – but the true extent of the use of the death penalty in China is unknown as this data is classified as a state secret. The global figure of at least 657 excludes the thousands of executions believed to have been carried out in China.
Excluding China, 86% of all reported executions took place in just four countries – Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt.
Bangladesh and Bahrain resumed executions last year, after a hiatus in 2018. Amnesty International did not report any executions in Afghanistan, Taiwan and Thailand, despite having done so in 2018.
Executions in Iran fell slightly from at least 253 in 2018 to at least 251 in 2019. Executions in Iraq almost doubled from at least 52 in 2018 to at least 100 in 2019, while Saudi Arabia executed a record number of people from 149 in 2018 to 184 in 2019.
Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Kazakhstan, Kenya and Zimbabwe either took positive steps or made pronouncements in 2019 which may lead to the abolition of the death penalty.
Barbados also removed the mandatory death penalty from its Constitution. In the United States, the Governor of California established an official moratorium on executions in the US state with biggest death row population, and New Hampshire became the 21st US state to abolish the death penalty for all crimes.
Gambia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, the Russian Federation and Tajikistan continued to observe official moratoriums on executions.
At least 26,604 people were known to be under sentence of death globally at the end of 2019.
The following methods of execution were used across the world in 2019: beheading, electrocution, hanging, lethal injection and shooting.
At least 13 public executions were recorded in Iran. At least six people – four in Iran, one in Saudi Arabia and one in South Sudan – were executed for crimes that occurred when they were below 18 years of age. People with mental or intellectual disabilities were under sentence of death in several countries, including Japan, Maldives, Pakistan and USA.
Death sentences were known to have been imposed after proceedings that did not meet international fair trial standards in countries including Bahrain, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Viet Nam and Yemen.
Amnesty International 2019 Death Penalty report (pdf)
The group cannot meet at present of course but if you would like to join then we hope to be back in action as soon as restrictions are lifted and it is safe to do so. Keep and eye out on this page or on Twitter and Facebook for notice of our events. Comments here are always welcome.
We are pleased to attach the death penalty report for mid March/April 2020 thanks to group member Lesley for the work in compiling it.
In a unanimous decision delivered yesterday, 25 March 2020, agreed that the British government acted unlawfully in providing, or agreeing to provide, information to the United States without seeking assurances that the death penalty would not be imposed. The USA is the only country in the Americas which retains the penalty and we have highlighted in many of our posts, the poor legal process, countless mistakes and lack of proper protection for suspects during interrogations.
This appeal concerned two individuals, Shafee El Sheik and Alexandra Kotey (nicknamed the ‘Beatles by parts of the UK press at the time) who were alleged to be a part of terrorists operating in Syria and who were involved in the murder of British and US citizens.
In a press release by the Death Penalty Project they say:
It has never been in dispute that Mr El Sheik and Mr Kotey should face trial for the serious crimes alleged against them, but any trial, if it is to take place, should be held in the UK. We intervened in this case because we believed the earlier actions of the UK government were contrary to its long-standing approach on the death penalty and could lead to a death sentence being imposed or carried out. The importance of this decision is wider than just this case. It has implication for any individual who may be facing the death penalty and concerns what assurance the UK government must seek before deciding what help or assistance it may give. there are fundamental issues concerning the right to life. Parvais Jabbar, Co-Executive Director
It is interesting that one of the motives for leaving the EU was to ‘take back control’ and to be free of he judgements of the European Court. Yet the government has shown itself all too craven when it comes to ceding power to the US justice system.
Arguments went on about where to prosecute them and the CPS had amassed a considerable body of evidence, sufficient for a trial to take place in the UK. Amnesty is opposed to the use of the death penalty in all circumstances. The use of the penalty was abolished in the UK over 50 years ago.
We are pleased to attach our monthly death penalty report compiled by group member Lesley.
Report: February – March (Word)
We are pleased to attach the monthly death penalty report prepared by group member Lesley. It contains news of death sentences and penalties from around the world. Note that China does not appear because although it is believed to execute more of its citizens that the rest of the world combined, the data is a state secret.
Justice for Kris Maharaj has been denied again in Florida. After all the work that was done to prove that he was innocent, he still languishes in gaol after 33 years. It was hoped his hearing – already delayed by several months – would have been heard this month and he would be freed. But now it has been delayed again, this time indefinitely. You can read the full story by Clive Stafford Smith of Reprieve who must be close to despairing that this rotten US justice system will ever admit its mistake and release him.
Attached is the death penalty report for December – January compiled by group member Lesley.
December 16th is the 50th anniversary of the abolition of the death penalty in the UK
At 8am on 13 August 1964, the last execution took place in the United Kingdom. Two men: Gwynne Evans and Peter Allen were separately executed in Manchester and Liverpool. The death penalty for murder was abolished in the following year 1965 and made permanent on 16 December 1969. Northern Ireland followed in 1973 and the last hanging offence – treason – was abolished in 1998. In the current climate however, the question has to be asked, how secure is this decision and will it last another 50 years without being repealed?
Many will remember some of the impassioned debates which took place at the time with concerns it would lead to a rise in the murder rate. Indeed, the vicar of All Saints, Clapton in London, said at the time it would be a ‘wholesale license to kill’. The police wanted to be armed if the bill was passed. Despite its abolition, the homicide rate in the UK has remained reasonable static over many years. The figures for the last 3 years for example are 721 (2016/17); 728 (2017/18) and 701 (2018/19). (Source: Statistica).
Amnesty is opposed the use of the death penalty for six reasons:
World wide
There has been a decrease in the number of countries using the death penalty according the 2018 Amnesty Report on the subject. 690 people were executed in 2018 in 20 countries representing a 31% decrease on the previous year. However, these statistics exclude China – the world’s largest executioner – but where the number of executions, which is known to be vast, is a state secret. Belarus is the only country in Europe still to have the penalty and executed at least 4 people in 2018.
The five biggest countries which still execute its citizens are: China; Iran; Saudi Arabia; Viet Nam and Iraq. 78% of all executions take place in the last four countries in this list (with the caveat that the China figure is unknown). It is possible China executes more of its citizens than the rest of the world put together.
The Salisbury group monitors cases around the world and produces a monthly report.
United Kingdom
There has been a noticeable increase in rhetoric around harsher prison sentences and a desire to lock more people up for longer. The current UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel has made a number of speeches and wants to see longer sentences, more prisoners kept in prisons for longer and generally supports a tougher approach to criminal justice. She has seemed to support the death penalty although she denies that this is so. Nevertheless, she is a powerful and insistent supporter of tougher sentencing.
A Parliamentary Enquiry has warned that UK citizens are at risk of the death penalty in the US – or of being sent to Guantanamo Bay – under a fast-track data sharing deal signed by the Home Secretary, as the result of an agreement reached with Washington last month, when the details were kept secret. It is said that the deal will give police and intelligence agencies speedy access to electronic communications sent by terrorists, serious crime gangs and white-collar criminals. The House of Lords Committee has criticised the ‘asymmetric’ nature of the arrangement, which gives the US far greater powers to target UK citizens than vice-versa, and claims have been made that the UK will not be able to obtain ‘credible assurances’ that extradited suspects will not face execution. (Source: The Independent.)
Among the public YouGov polls reveal a mixed desire for restoring the penalty which depends a lot on what type of murder is involved. So for multiple murders for example, 57% are in favour and 33% against. Murder of a child shows 53% for and 31% against. The ‘all cases of murder’ figure is 45% against and 34% for.
For crime generally in the words of YouGov ‘Voters are united: criminals should be more harshly punished.’ In the general population, 70% believe that sentences are not harsh enough which rises to 87% for Conservative supporters. Further analysis for gender, age, location and social grade reveals only small differences. The major difference is between Remain and Leave voters in the Referendum to leave the European Union (Brexit). The statistic for all cases of murder shows that 64% of Remain supporters oppose the death penalty in contrast to 30% of Leave supporters – around double. The support figures are even more marked with 51% of Leave supporters in favour of the death penalty and only 19% of Remainers.
It seems therefore that in the UK population, vengeful policies for dealing with criminality and for reintroducing the death penalty for some types of murder are still quite strong. A conservative MP and former minister, John Hayes, asked the government last year to reintroduce the penalty.
Government policy has long been that we will not grant extradition to foreign countries if there is a risk of the individual being executed. This policy appeared to be weakened last year by the then Home Secretary Sajid Javid:
Sajid Javid, […] has caused controversy in September by indicating that the British government is prepared to waive its long-standing opposition to the use of capital punishment by foreign governments, in the case of two alleged jihadi terrorists originally from Britain. He has agreed to provide the authorities in the United States with intelligence evidence to assist in the trials of the two men without asking for the usual assurances that any convictions would not lead to the death penalty being imposed. Human rights champions have widely condemned this decision as compromising Britain’s principled opposition to capital punishment and as setting a dangerous precedent. Others, however, claim the two men involved deserve whatever they get. So was the Home Secretary’s decision right or wrong? YouGov 24 July 2018
Taken together, with members of the public wanting the return of the death penalty for several types of murder and an increase in harsher sentences; a weakening in the policy of not supporting the extradition to countries which execute people, and a desire to abolish the Human Rights Act, the reintroduction of the death penalty – although unlikely – may not be impossible in this country. With the Conservative government returned last week with an increased majority, things are by no means certain. That it survives as a wish in many people’s minds is a worrying fact.
Sources: YouGov; Statistica; The Independent; Guardian, Parliament.co.uk, Amnesty International
We always welcome new members and the best thing is to keep an eye on this site or on Facebook – Salisburyai – and make yourself known at an event we are organising.
We are pleased to attach our latest monthly death penalty report compiled by group member Lesley. In addition to matters around the world, we mention worries about the Conservative government, if, as expected, they assume power on Friday after the election. The present Home Secretary, Priti Patel is committed to toughening sentencing and has said she wishes to see the reintroduction of the penalty in the UK. She denies that this is the case. We quote survey statistics to show that it is still a desired outcome for many people, especially for those who voted leave in the EU Referendum.
Note as ever that China is the world’s largest executioner of its citizens but the data is a state secret.
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 