Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire
Promoting human rights from Salisbury UK
We attach the latest monthly death penalty report with thanks to group member Lesley for compiling it. A fairly full report with a big section on Turkey which is contemplating reintroducing the death penalty following the recent failed coup.
The group’s death penalty report for June – July 2016 is now available thanks to group member Lesley for
compiling it. USA features strongly where there are a number of struggles going on. The Maldives appear and we have written to our local MP Mr John Glen, who has a special interest in the country, to intercede.
China remains the country which executes the most followed by Iran and Saudi Arabia. Details of executions in China are a state secret.
It seems hardly credible that someone who has spent 34 years on death row should now be at risk of execution but that is the case with John Wayne Conner in Georgia. The details are below and if you are able to write we would be grateful. This is URGENT however.
Amnesty is opposed to the death penalty. China remains the country which executes more than any other country. See our monthly report.
A former Swindon Amnesty member and lawyer, Catherine Dunmore, has secured funds from a crowdsourcing site to enable her to go to the state of Florida in the USA to work on first degree murder cases. She has been there three weeks now and she has a blog which is worth reading. Florida is one of the states still using the death penalty.
We hope you will follow her blog and also be moved to send funds to her crowdfunding site.
This is the text of a letter sent to the Salisbury Journal but which was not published:
The Salisbury Group of Amnesty International is campaigning to end the use of the death penalty around the world. Of particular concern to the local group is its use in countries like Iran to execute juveniles.As the report recently published by Amnesty shows, around the world at least 1,634 people were executed last year, a 54% increase on the previous year. This excludes China where the numbers are a state secret.Frequently, after a high-profile murder or terrorist action in this country, someone will call for the death penalty to be re-introduced. When emotions run high it’s almost understandable, but it would be a mistake. The Amnesty report shows how in nearly every country where they still apply capital punishment, trials are grossly unfair, defendants are mistreated in prison, and legal representation is shockingly poor. In the USA, defence lawyers have fallen asleep during trials. In Iran, hearings may last only ten minutes. In China, where torture is rife, thousands are executed. This is not a club we want to join.Further details can be seen on the Group’s web site http://www.salisburyai.com/ and we would welcome anyone who would like to join us in our campaign to end the practice of the execution of juveniles in Iran.
Interim International Update (from 14.4.16 – 28.4.16)
Date format: day/month/year
UK –
o 14.4.16 – Mya Foa, Death Penalty Director of Reprieve stated, ‘
It is easy for Ministers to condemn the death penalty from Foreign Office briefing rooms. But if the words are to mean anything, the UK must be willing to engage in targeted ways on specific cases, including making its concerns public where appropriate. The countries driving a global surge in executions are amongst the country’s closest allies. This gives us a voice and we should use it in service of our values.
She highlights Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and also Iran, where the recent resumption of diplomatic relations demonstrates how we can make a difference. She quotes the instance of how David Cameron’s intervention in 2013 in the cases of three young men who had faced torture and abuse, and were given death sentences, had contributed to their pardon and release.
o 24.4.16 – Catherine Dunmore, a young lawyer from Swindon, who supported Amnesty while at secondary school, is about to spend 3 months in Florida, working as an unpaid volunteer for Amicus. This organisation provides legal representation for those on death row – For anyone who might wish to support her, please go to Crowdfunder appeal The Salisbury Group wishes Catherine well.
o 14.4.16 – Non Profit Quarterly have reported on the steady decline in executions since 2009 – from 52 
to 28 in 2015. They attribute this in part to changing public opinion and increased media scrutiny, but also to the activism of death penalty opponents which has led to the limited availability of drugs essential in the use of the lethal injection.
The review shows that, while 31 states have the death penalty, only 4 are actively executing prisoners using lethal injection – Missouri, Texas, Alabama and Georgia. Florida are currently reviewing their procedures, while Louisiana, Virginia, Arizona and Arkansas have, or are about to, use the last of their supplies. Ohio have had to re- schedule their executions, and Nebraska are looking for a legal source of drugs.
The Danish Company Lundbeck were exposed as the suppliers of phenobarbital by Maya Foya of Reprieve, and the campaign against its supply and use was joined by Amnesty International. One of Lundbeck’s straplines on its UK site is: ‘Improving human life for almost a century.’ Although a number of states are considering alternative methods of execution, it is hoped that the delays and setbacks will provide sufficient time for the Supreme Court to consider the constitutionality of the death penalty.
o Texas –
United Nations – 19.4.16 – The first special session held in nearly 20 years to address drug policy resulted in tensions between countries as to whether criminalisation and punishment, or health and human rights, should be the main focus. AI reported that 30 countries have laws supporting the use of the death penalty for drug related offences, with at least 685 executions in 2015.
The outcome adopted by the member states included no criticism of the death penalty, stating only that countries should ensure punishments were ‘proportionate’ with the crimes.
UK/Indonesia –
o 19.4.16 – AI called on Mr Cameron to challenge the President, Mr Widodo, on his decision to re-implement the death penalty for drug related offences, and to raise the case of the British woman, Lindsay Sandiford.
o 28.4.16 – The Guardian reports that, a year after the execution of eight people convicted of drug trafficking, there are rumours of preparations for further executions, which could take place in the next few weeks. Prisoners on death row include two Britons – Lindsay Sandiford and Gareth Cashmore, and a young man – Yusman Telaumbana – believed to have been a minor at the time of the crime, and to have been tortured. (Note: Indonesia was booed at the United Nations session on drug policy).
Nigeria – 21.4.16 – It was reported in the Nigerian media that prosecutors in Kaduna were seeking the death penalty for members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) for the killing of a soldier in the course of two days of violence in December 2012 in the northern city of Zaria.
Iran – UA 65/16 – Alireza Pour Olfat was scheduled to be executed on 16.4.16 for a fatal stabbing committed at 16 in the course of a group fight. His execution was postponed to allow more time for seeking a pardon from the victim’s family. (Circulated to DPLWG 15.4.16).
Iran – New Zealand Amnesty petition – an online petition from Amnesty New Zealand calling on the Iranian Authorities to cease the execution of those who were children at the time of their sentences.(Circulated to DPLWG 27.4.16 and on the website)
Campaigning
China remains the country with the highest level of executions – believed to be in the thousands – but the statistics are a state secret.
Thanks to group member Lesley for compiling this report.
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A previous urgent action was sent out concerning proposed changes to the California Code of Corrections concerning the use of lethal injections. The date for responses has now passed but we have today received a message to say this has been extended to 15 May 2016. Executions have been put on hold since 2006.
URGENT ACTION
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has launched a public consultation on its proposed new lethal injection protocol. The public has until 22 January (but see above) to submit comments on the regulation, the adoption of which would allow for the resumption of executions in the US state with the highest death row population.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) began a public consultation on 6 November on its new lethal injection protocol. Among other changes, the proposed new regulation introduces a single-drug lethal injection protocol which means that any one of four barbiturates listed in the regulations may be selected as the chemical to be used in the execution. It also establishes criteria for the selection, recruitment and training of lethal injection team members; and establishes procedures and timeframes for the movement and observation of prisoners once the execution warrant has been served.
Members of the public have until 22 January 2016 (see above – date extended to 15 May) to submit comments on the proposed new regulation, after which the CDCR will have the opportunity to amend its proposal. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception, regardless of the nature or circumstances of the crime; guilt, innocence or other characteristics of the individual; or the method used by the state to carry out the execution.
California is the US state with the highest number of prisoners under sentence of death: 745 as of December 2015. The last execution was carried out in 2006 and the implementation of the death penalty has been on hold since then, as legal challenges on the state’s lethal injection procedures resulted in the invalidation of lethal injection procedures. In order to be able to resume executions, the California authorities need to put in place new operational regulations on executions.
Please write immediately in English or your own language:
ν Urging the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to immediately halt its plans to adopt the new lethal injection regulation and work with other state authorities to abolish the death penalty;
ν Urging the California authorities to establish an official moratorium on all executions as a first step towards abolition of the death penalty, in line with the international and national trend and five UN General Assembly resolutions adopted since 2007;
ν Reminding them that the USA is among the minority of countries that still executes, and that there is no humane way to kill.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 15 MAY 2016 TO:
Chief, Regulation and Policy Management Branch
Timothy M. Lockwood
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation – Regulation and Policy Management Branch
P.O. 942883 Sacramento, CA
94283-0001, USA
Fax: +1 916 324 6075
Email: LI.comments@cdcr.ca.gov
Salutation: Dear Mr. Lockwood
Governor of California
Edmund G. Brown Jr.
c/o State Capitol
Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA
95814, USA
Fax: +1 916 5583160
Email: governor@governor.ca.gov
Salutation: Dear Governor
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.
HIS EXCELLENCY THE HONOURABLE MATTHEW BARZUN American Embassy, 24 Grosvenor Square, London W1A 6AE, tel: 020 7499 9000. Salutation: Your Excellency Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
URGENT ACTION
Additional Information
In order to be able to resume executions, the authorities of California, USA, need to put in place new operational regulations on executions. To this aim, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) issued the notice of public consultation 15-10 on 6 November 2015, providing details of proposed changes to Section 3349 and the adoption of Sections 3349.1, 3349.2, 3349.3, 3349.4, 3349.5, 3349.6, 3349.7, 3349.8, and 3349.9 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR), Title 15, Crime Prevention and Corrections (hereafter, the proposed new regulation).
Executions in California have been on hold since 2006. Legal challenges resulted in the invalidation of previously adopted execution procedures and were followed by a referendum in 2012 seeking to abolish the death penalty in the state. In addition to this, challenges in the sourcing of substances to be used in executions by lethal injections led to a nationwide reduction in the number of executions and increased debates on the use of the death penalty.
The US Supreme Court overturned the USA’s death penalty laws in 1972, but upheld revised laws in 1976, in Gregg v. Georgia. In a dissent from a ruling on lethal injection on 29 June 2015, Justice Stephen Breyer argued that the time had come to revisit the constitutionality of the death penalty, given the evidence of its arbitrariness and unreliability. Joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, he wrote that:
Unlike 40 years ago, we now have plausible evidence of unreliability… In sum, there is significantly more research-based evidence today indicating that courts sentence to death individuals who may well be actually innocent or whose convictions (in the law’s view) do not warrant the death penalty’s application.
Since 1976, more than 140 wrongful convictions in capital cases have been uncovered in the USA, a period that has seen 1,414 executions. Since 2007, five US states have abolished the death penalty and a further three have established official moratoriums on executions, including most recently Pennsylvania in February 2015.
Today, 140 countries are abolitionist in law or practice. In 2015 three more countries – Fiji, Madagascar and Suriname – abolished the death penalty for all crimes and Mongolia adopted a new Criminal Code that bans the use of the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment in the country. The USA is among the small minority of countries – ten on average – for which Amnesty International has recorded executions every year in the past five years.
UA: 287/15 Index: AMR 51/3065/2015 Issue Date: 14 December 2015
STOP PRESS
Since this item was posted we have received notification that Californian Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation has extended its written public comment period to 15 May. Full details can be found on another post.
The death penalty report for March/April 2016 is now available thanks to group member Lesley for compiling it. It has been a grim period with rises in executions in Iran and Pakistan and several executions in USA following dubious trials. Iran is coming under increasing scrutiny worldwide for its practice of executing people who were juveniles at the time of their alleged offences.
China continues to lead the world with more executions than all other countries put together.
WE are sad to report that on 12th April, Kenneth Fults was executed by lethal injection in Georgia USA. The United States is the only country in the Americas which still has the death penalty. The case revealed the usual catalogue of dubious legal practice that is so common in these cases: a black defendant poorly represented by lawyers one of whom was allegedly asleep during part of the proceedings; a plea bargain and a juror who made derogatory racial remarks about Fults. Other factors are set out in a previous blog.
Amnesty International’s senior death penalty campaigner Jason Clark said:
Those troubling factors are typical of Georgia’s use of the death penalty.
Virtually every execution that’s happened in Georgia has been emblematic of problems with the death penalty.
He noted that the 28 executions in the U.S. last year were carried out by just six states.
In states like Georgia that are still carrying on a lot of executions, it’s because they’re not implementing issues of fairness.
Amnesty is opposed to the death penalty in all cases.
A sad day…
In May 1997, Kenneth Fults pleaded guilty to the murder of Cathy Bounds – shot at her home on 30 January 1996. After a three-day sentencing hearing, the jury voted to sentence Kenneth to death.
Eight years later, one of the jurors from the sentencing signed a sworn statement admitting that he voted for the death penalty out of racial prejudice:
I don’t know if he ever killed anybody, but that n***** got just what should have happened. Once he pled guilty, I knew I would vote for the death penalty because that’s what the n***** deserved.
When evidence of racist motivation among the jury was raised at an appeal hearing, the state argued that it was too late to review the issue and Kenneth’s death sentence should stand. After 19 excruciating years on death row, Kenneth’s execution is now imminent. He is due to be executed on 12 April 2016.
Former jurors on the case have since signed affidavits saying that Kenneth’s trial lawyer made little effort to save his client from the death penalty, and shockingly was seen to be asleep during the proceedings.
Mr Fults’s lawyer… was uninterested in what was happening, and it seemed like something was wrong with him. I saw him fall asleep repeatedly during the trial, and he would wake up, startled, when it was his turn to examine witnesses. I saw him sleeping off and on throughout the whole trial. Former juror on Kenneth Fult’s case
The jury heard some mitigating evidence – that Kenneth was a man with a very low IQ who suffered from depression and an inability to always understand the consequences of his actions – but not they did not get the full story. His lawyer, Mr Mostiler, failed to give any background on Kenneth’s childhood of neglect and abandonment – born to a 16-year-old mother who later became addicted to crack cocaine.
I don’t believe he had a fair trial. Mr Fults’s current lawyers have told me about how Mr Fults was neglected and abandoned as a child and that he is mentally retarded. Mostiler didn’t bring this up at trial and he should have, so that we would have known more about Mr Fults before we talked about whether to give him the death penalty.
Another former juror on Kenneth Fult’s case In 2006 – a clinical psychologist assessed Kenneth as having an intellectual disability – with a low IQ. International law bans use of the death penalty on people with mental or intellectual disabilities.
We are completely opposed to the death penalty – in all cases, with no exception. The death penalty violates the right to life and is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. We’re asking the State of Georgia authorities to stop the execution of Kenneth Fults and for his death sentence to be commuted.
If you would like to write your own appeal, please send via fax or email to ensure it reaches the Chairman of the Board of Pardons and Paroles by 12 April 2016.
Contact details:
Terry Barnard
Chairman, Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles
Fax: +1 404-651-6670
Email: laqsmith@pap.state.ga.us
Salutation: Dear Chairman Barnard
And please send copies to:
Governor Nathan Deal
Office of the Governor
Fax: +1 404-657-7332
Email: Complete the form at http://gov.georgia.gov/webform/contact-governor-international-form or http://gov.georgia.gov/webform/contact-governor-domestic-form
Last year saw a dramatic rise in executions globally, with the highest number recorded in more than 25 few years. However, the Americas is becoming a virtually death penalty-free region.
The USA is the only country in the region to still execute – and consistently one of the world’s top five executioners, behind only Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran and China.
Last year 28 people were executed in the USA and almost 3,000 people remained on death row.
In June 2015, US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer noted that multiple studies have concluded that ‘individuals accused of murdering white victims, as opposed to black or other minority victims, are more likely to receive the death penalty’ in the USA.
African-American defendants receive the death penalty at three times the rate of white defendants in cases where the victims are white, according to a 2007 study in Connecticut conducted by Yale University School of Law.
From initial charging decisions to plea bargaining to jury sentencing, African-Americans are treated more harshly when they are defendants, and their lives are accorded less value when they are victims.
It may be an obvious point, but once somebody has been executed – there is no going back. And the risk of ending the life of an innocent person can never be overcome. Over the last 46 years, 150 prisoners sent to death row in the USA have later been exonerated due to evidence of wrongful convictions. The key factors leading to wrongful conviction include inadequate legal representation, police misconduct, racial prejudice and suppression of mitigating evidence.
China executes more people than all countries put together but the figures are a state secret.
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 