Nobel Laureates Oppose Death Penalty, Decry Execution of Juvenile Offenders

A gath­er­ing of Nobel Laureates in Rome con­clud­ed with a com­mon state­ment call­ing for abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty and specif­i­cal­ly decry­ing the death penal­ty for juve­nile offend­ers. The state­ment not­ed ​“the death penal­ty is a par­tic­u­lar­ly cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment that should be abol­ished. It is espe­cial­ly uncon­scionable when imposed on chil­dren.” Among those in atten­dance at the sum­mit were Mikhail Gorbachev, for­mer Israel Prime Minister Simon Peres, the Dalai Lama, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Lech Walesa, Betty Williams, Jody Williams, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez, and a num­ber of orga­ni­za­tions that par­tic­i­pat­ed in the sum­mit. (Fourth World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, November 30, 2003) Read more about the sum­mit. See Juvenile Death Penalty and New Voices.

British Human Rights Report Addresses U.S. Death Penalty

The United Kingdom’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s Human Rights Annual Report 2003 includes a review of Britain’s offi­cial actions to address con­cerns about the appli­ca­tion of the death penal­ty in the United States. In addi­tion to an out­line of the U.K.‘s reac­tion to sig­nif­i­cant death penal­ty devel­op­ments in the U.S., the report high­lights the sharp dif­fer­ence between British and U.S. cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment poli­cies. It states:

The UK Government oppos­es the death penal­ty and its use on British nation­als every­where. The UK and the US share many of the same objec­tives for human rights and democ­ra­cy around the world, but we fun­da­men­tal­ly dis­agree over the use of the death penal­ty. The UK makes rep­re­sen­ta­tions against the death penal­ty, at what­ev­er stage we judge the most appro­pri­ate and effec­tive, on behalf of British nation­als on death row or those fac­ing a pos­si­ble death sen­tence, and in cas­es where we believe that the use of the death penal­ty falls short of UN min­i­mum stan­dards. (U.K. Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Human Rights Annual Report 2003). 

Read the report.

British Privy Council Declares the Automatic Death Penalty in Trinidad and Tobago Unconstitutional

The British Privy Council, which is com­posed of law lords serv­ing as the final appeals court in many of Britain’s for­mer colonies, has ruled that the auto­mat­ic death penal­ty in Trinidad and Tobago was incon­sis­tent with their inter­na­tion­al oblig­a­tions. Despite the rul­ing, the auto­mat­ic death penal­ty seems pop­u­lar in the region, and some argue that it should be the coun­try’s par­lia­ment to decide on pun­ish­ments. However, the judge­ment sim­ply means that the death penal­ty is still the max­i­mum penal­ty, but would no longer be manda­to­ry, reserved for more seri­ous killings. (The Guardian (London), November 21, 2003)

Justice O’Connor Stresses Importance of International Law

During a speech host­ed by the Southern Center for International Studies in Atlanta, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor stressed the impor­tance of inter­na­tion­al law for American courts and the need for the United States to cre­ate a more favor­able impres­sion abroad. She cit­ed recent Supreme Court cas­es, includ­ing the Court’s rul­ing to ban the exe­cu­tion of those with men­tal retar­da­tion, that illus­trate the increased will­ing­ness of U.S. courts to take inter­na­tion­al law into account. ​“I sus­pect that over time we will rely increas­ing­ly, or take notice at least increas­ing­ly, on inter­na­tion­al and for­eign courts in exam­in­ing domes­tic issues.” O’Connor not­ed that doing so ​“may not only enrich our own coun­try’s deci­sions, I think it may cre­ate that all impor­tant good impres­sion.” (World Net Daily, October 31, 2003)

Kenya to Abolish Capital Punishment

Kenyan gov­ern­ment offi­cials are work­ing to abol­ish the nation’s death penal­ty and replace the pun­ish­ment with life in prison. The rec­om­men­da­tion is cur­rent­ly under review by Kenya’s con­sti­tu­tion­al review con­fer­ence, a body com­prised of mem­bers of par­lia­ment, pro­fes­sion­al bod­ies and reli­gious and civic lead­ers. Kenya has not had an exe­cu­tion since 1987, but 2,618 peo­ple remain on the nation’s death row. Kenya’s assis­tant min­is­ter for home affairs, Wilfred Machage, not­ed, ​“The prac­tice has been used world­wide in the past but lat­est trends show that it is an abuse of an indi­vid­u­al’s right to life and it is not part of the mea­sures that can help a con­vict fit in soci­ety because they will be dead.” (ITV​.com, October 15, 2003)

Foreign Service Journal Examines the Impact of World Opinion on the U.S. Death Penalty


The October 2003 edi­tion of the Foreign Service Journal con­tains a series of arti­cles exam­in­ing world opin­ion on the death penal­ty and its effect on U.S. poli­cies. The arti­cles, includ­ing one by DPIC Executive Director Richard Dieter, fea­ture infor­ma­tion on inter­na­tion­al treaties, the expe­ri­ences of for­mer U.S. for­eign diplo­mats, and the effect of the inter­na­tion­al move­ment away from the death penal­ty on the U.S.‘s posi­tion as a leader in human rights. Among the oth­er con­tribut­ing writ­ers are Harold Hongju Koh, Thomas R. Pickering, Paul Rosenszweig, Greg Kane, and Paul Blackburn. (Foreign Service Journal, October 2003) For a copy of Richard Dieter’s arti­cle, con­tact DPIC.

International News: World Day Against the Death Penalty

An International coali­tion of non-gov­ern­men­tal orga­ni­za­tions will spon­sor a World Day Against the Death Penalty on October 10th, 2003. The coali­tion will host local events through­out the world to draw atten­tion to their con­cerns about cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Among the events sched­uled are debates, con­certs, and lec­tures. The coali­tion will also host an Internet event urg­ing repeal of the death penal­ty in all coun­tries that main­tain the prac­tice, includ­ing the United States. (World Coalition Against the Death Penalty Press Release, September 10, 2003) Read the press in English, French, Spanish.

U.S. Will Not Seek Death Penalty Against Two British Nationals

Pentagon gen­er­al coun­sel William J. Haynes II has assured British Prime Minister Tony Blair that the U.S. will not seek the death penal­ty against two British cit­i­zens fac­ing tri­al on ter­ror­ism charges before mil­i­tary tri­bunals. The two men, Feroz Abbasi and Moazzam Begg, are among the 680 pris­on­ers from 42 coun­tries being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in con­nec­tion with the cam­paign against ter­ror­ism. Prior to Blair’s recent vis­it to Washington, dur­ing which he raised the issue with President Bush, the Prime Minister had pushed for the U.S. to extra­dite the two men to Britain. If that option were not avail­able, he request­ed assur­ance of fair tri­als free of the prospect of a death sen­tence, which Britain bans. The agree­ment has raised ques­tions of fair­ness among those inter­na­tion­al lead­ers rep­re­sent­ing oth­er cit­i­zens who are expect­ed to face mil­i­tary tri­bunals in the future. ​“We believe that what­ev­er is being done has to be done on a non-dis­crim­i­na­to­ry basis. That’s the rule of law. There should be a uni­form set of pro­ce­dures fol­lowed,” said Asad Hayauddin, a press attache at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington. (Washington Post, July 23, 2003)

Armenia Commutes All Death Sentences

Walter Schwimmer, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, recent­ly praised the deci­sion of Armenian President Robert Kocharyan to com­mute all remain­ing death sen­tences in the nation to life in prison. ​“I am delight­ed that President Kocharyan has tak­en such a pos­i­tive and com­mend­able step for­ward. The death penal­ty is an affront to all notions of dig­ni­ty and human rights, and has no place in the Europe of today,” Schwimmer said. The President’s deci­sion to com­mute the death sen­tences is in line with Armenia’s efforts to com­ply with stan­dards set by the Council of Europe that for­bid mem­ber nations from main­tain­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. (The Council of Europe Press, August 2, 2003).

Japanese Legislative Group Proposes Halt to Executions, Study

The Diet Members’ League for Abolition of the Death Penalty, a par­lia­men­tary group of the gov­ern­ing Liberal Democratic Party, has draft­ed leg­is­la­tion to replace the death penal­ty with life in prison. In addi­tion, the bill would estab­lish pan­els in both Houses of the Diet to study cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. The bill does not pro­pose an imme­di­ate aban­don­ment of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, but instead impos­es a four-year mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions. During this time, the par­lia­men­tary pan­els would be charged with reach­ing a con­sen­sus on the abo­li­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in three years.
In 2001, the Council of Europe adopt­ed a res­o­lu­tion that threat­ened to review the observ­er sta­tus of Japan and the United States if the two coun­tries failed to take steps toward abol­ish­ing the death penal­ty. (Japan Times, June 23, 2003)

ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW: Saudi Executioner Says He Leads ​“Normal Life”

Although he beheads up to sev­en peo­ple a day, Saudi Arabia’s lead­ing exe­cu­tion­er, 42-year-old Muhammad Saad Al-Beshi, says that he leads a nor­mal life and is car­ry­ing out God’s will. Using a sword giv­en to him as a gift by the gov­ern­ment, Al-Beshi has per­formed pub­lic exe­cu­tions since 1998 and has since trained his son, Musaed, to also become an exe­cu­tion­er. ​“An exe­cu­tion­er’s life, of course, is not all killing. Sometimes it can be ampu­ta­tion of hands and legs. I use a spe­cial sharp knife, not a sword. When I cut off a hand I cut it from the joint. If it is a leg the author­i­ties spec­i­fy where it is to be tak­en off, so I fol­low that,” Al-Beshi says. Although the major­i­ty of exe­cu­tions are even­tu­al­ly car­ried out, Al-Beshi must first go to the vic­tim’s fam­i­ly to ask for­give­ness for the crim­i­nal, who may then be spared the sword. He states, ​“I always have that hope, until the very last minute, and I pray to God to give the crim­i­nal a new lease of life. I always keep that hope alive.” A self-described fam­i­ly man, Al-Beshi says that his pro­fes­sion does not keep him from lead­ing a nor­mal life among fam­i­ly and friends and that he sleeps very well at night. He notes, ​“They aren’t afraid of me when I come back from an exe­cu­tion. Sometimes they help me clean my sword.” (Arab News, June 5, 2003). See ​“Witness to an Execution” for the per­spec­tive of those involved in U.S. executions.

Armenia Abolishes Death Penalty

Armenian law­mak­ers recent­ly vot­ed to adopt a crim­i­nal code that abol­ish­es the death penal­ty. The deci­sion to elim­i­nate cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment brings Armenia into com­pli­ance with its oblig­a­tions as a mem­ber of the Council of Europe. Under the new law, enact­ed six years after the nation declared a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions, the death penal­ty will be replaced with life impris­on­ment. (Associated Press, April 19, 2003)

China, Iran and U.S. are World’s Top Executioners

A recent report issued by Amnesty International states that the United States, China and Iran car­ried out 80% of all known exe­cu­tions in 2002. According to the report, issued in Geneva as mem­bers of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights met for a six week ses­sion, China had the most exe­cu­tions with 1,060, Iran had the sec­ond high­est num­ber with 113, and the United States had the third-high­est num­ber with 71 exe­cu­tions. Amnesty not­ed that the true num­ber of peo­ple exe­cut­ed in China was believed to be much high­er. To date, 111 coun­tries have abol­ished the death penal­ty in law or in prac­tice, but it is still imposed in 83 coun­tries. Read the report. (Reuters, April 11, 2003)

Great Britain Rules Out Death Penalty Extradition to U.S.

British Home Secretary David Blunkett recent­ly promised that Great Britain will not extra­dite peo­ple to the United States if they might face the death penal­ty. The announce­ment came short­ly after Blunkett and U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft signed a new extra­di­tion treaty between the two nations. The new agree­ment was designed to bring the U.K.‘s extra­di­tion poli­cies with the U.S. more in line with arrange­ments made with oth­er European coun­tries. During talks regard­ing the new agree­ment, Blunkett said that Ashcroft guar­an­teed that no per­son extra­dit­ed from the U.K. would face death penal­ty charges and that no new cap­i­tal charges would be filed fol­low­ing the indi­vid­u­al’s arrival in the U.S. (BBC News, April 5, 2003)

European Court Rules Death Penalty ​“Unacceptable Form of Punishment”

A European Court rul­ing found that Turkey’s impo­si­tion of the death penal­ty on defen­dant Abdullah Ocalan vio­lat­ed the European Convention on Human Rights’ ban on inhu­man and degrad­ing treat­ment. The Court held that cap­i­tal sen­tences are now regard­ed as ​“an unac­cept­able form of pun­ish­ment” which can ​“no longer be seen as hav­ing any legit­i­mate place in a demo­c­ra­t­ic soci­ety.” (Kurdish Media, March 12, 2003) In August 2002, Turkey’s par­lia­ment approved a pack­age of rights, includ­ing abol­ish­ing the death penal­ty, in an effort aimed at increas­ing its chances of join­ing the European Union. The leg­is­la­tion will replace the death penal­ty with life in prison with­out parole, although cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment will remain on the books dur­ing times of war.

International Opposition to Death Penalty Continues to Grow

The Zenit News Agency recent­ly report­ed on a series of offi­cial state actions cur­tail­ing the death penal­ty around the world:

Montenegro and Serbia abol­ished the death penal­ty to clear the way for entry into the Council of Europe.

The President of Kazakhstan said that the nation should seri­ous­ly con­sid­er halt­ing exe­cu­tions and abol­ish­ing cap­i­tal punishment altogether.

Turkmenistan abol­ished capital punishment.

Kyrgyzstan extend­ed its mora­to­ri­um on the death penal­ty for an additional year. 

South Korea has not car­ried out an exe­cu­tion since 1998.

Taiwan, which has car­ried out near­ly 300 exe­cu­tions over the past decade, said that it wants an end to executions.

Blas Ople, Foreign Affairs Secretary in the Philippines, said that the nation will sus­pend all exe­cu­tions while its Congress con­tin­ues to debate the mer­its of the death penalty. 

(Zenit News Agency, February 8, 2003). See International Death Penalty.