Worldwide Wednesday International Roundup: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, United States, and Vietnam

Democratic Republic of the Congo 

On September 13, 2024, 37 people, including three Americans, who were “charged with terrorism, murder, criminal association and illegal possession of weapons, among other charges” for their participation in an attempted coup in May were convicted and sentenced to death by a military court. Richard Bondo, lawyer for the three Americans, filed an appeal on Tuesday, September 17, 2024. Mr. Bondo argues that since the DRC is a member of the Treaty of Rome, the reinstatement of the death penalty in March was illegal; rather than lifting the moratorium, parliament should have chosen an alternative punishment. 

Iraq 

On September 25, AFP reported the hanging of 21 people, including one woman, on terrorism-related charges in Nassiriya, marking the largest mass execution reported this year, according to Amnesty International Iraq. Earlier in April, 13 men were executed in Nassiriya on terrorism-related charges, dubbed “overly broad and vague” by Amnesty International, which marked the first recorded mass execution since November 2020. As of October 1, 2024, the Cornell Center for the Death Penalty Worldwide has recorded at least 94 executions in Iraq, surpassing the at least 16 executions reported by Amnesty in 2023. Echoing concerns voiced in June by the United Nations, the European Union released a statement on September 27 expressing “its deep concern over the recent increased application of capital punishment sentences in Iraq, including cases of several executions in one single day. Over 8 000 prisoners are reportedly on the death row in Iraq as of today.”  

Iran 

There have been at least 72 executions recorded by Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) in September, bringing the yearly total to 478 executions. Of the 72 executions identified by IHRNGO, only 5, or 7%, were reported by official sources, demonstrating a continued lack of transparency. In September 35 executions were for drug-related crimes and 35 were for qisas, or retribution-in-kind, typically for intentional killings. Since Masoud Pezeshkian assumed office on July 30, there has been a post-election surge with at least 179 executions, or an average of almost three executions a day. 

On September 30, 2024, two unnamed men were publicly hanged in Khomein, marking the second and third public executions of the year. They were sentenced to death for moharebeh (enmity against god) and efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth) for armed robbery that took place on December 15, 2020. The first public hanging of 2024 occurred on August 26, and there were seven public hangings in 2023. “Public hanging is an inhumane, cruel and degrading act that not only victimises [sic] the defendant but also the general public,” said IHRNGO Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam. “The international community must condemn this barbaric punishment in the strongest terms. We will witness more public executions if the international community doesn’t show an appropriate response.” 

September 16, 2024, marked two years since 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini died while in custody of the morality police, an event which ignited the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement. In recognition of the two-year anniversary, solidarity protests were held worldwide. To discourage protests within Iran, increased security was present across many cities, and Ms. Amini’s family was barred by authorities from leaving their home and visiting the burial site. According to Iran International, strikes were held in at least 11 cities in Western Azerbaijan and Kurdistan provinces, with business owners closing their doors in solidarity. As part of the ongoing “No Execution Tuesday” prison hunger strike movement, 34 female prisoners in Evin prison announced that their strike that same week was in “commemoration of the second anniversary of the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement and the killing of Mahsa (Jina) Amini.” Ahead of the anniversary, the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran released an update on September 13 calling on authorities to “halt all protest-related executions and to put in place a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, with a view to its abolition.” The update states: “State authorities have increasingly invoked the use of the death penalty against women activists and scaled up executions against others who had expressed solidarity with the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement.” According to IHRNGO, there have been at least 1,425 executions recorded in the two years since Ms. Amini’s death, nearly two times higher than the number of executions recorded in the two years prior to the start of the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement. “The death penalty is the Islamic Republic’s most important tool to create societal fear with the aim of suppressing protests and preventing further protests,” said Mr. Amiry-Moghaddam. Amnesty International voiced similar concerns, explaining that the government has “intensified their use of the death penalty to silence dissent.”  

Saudi Arabia 

The Saudi Press Agency has reported at least 198 people have been executed thus far this year, the highest number of executions since 2022 when 196 executions were recorded. “Saudi Arabia’s authorities are pursuing a relentless killing spree displaying a chilling disregard for human life while promoting an empty-worded campaign to rebrand their image,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General. Executions for drug-related crimes have increased this year, with more than 50 carried out so far. The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR) has criticized the government for its increased lack of transparency, noting that information that was previously available, such as the court issuing the sentence, is now being withheld from the public. “Despite repeated official promises, including statements by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about halting executions for crimes that do not involve killing, the European Saudi Organization documented 30 executions for political charges or alleged membership in terrorist organizations, none of which involved murder,” said ESOHR in a statement. “International law advises countries that still enforce the death penalty to limit its use to the most serious offenses, such as murder.” Along with criticism from international human rights groups, the European Union released a statement voicing concern over the “serious increase in executions in Saudi Arabia over the last four months this year, including executions for drug related offences.”  

Taiwan 

Following a legal challenge by 37 death row prisoners, the Constitutional Court of Taiwan ruled on the constitutionality of capital punishment on September 20, 2024. It decided that the death penalty was constitutional for the “most serious crimes,” such as intentional killings but mandated that the government amend certain procedural rules within the next two years to better protect defendants’ due process rights. Although the decision did not go as far as to restrict the death penalty for those with mental and intellectual disabilities, in line with international standards, the Court found that current provisions fail to adequately protect these vulnerable populations and until existing provisions meet constitutional standards death sentences for these populations may not be carried out. According to Jurist News, the Kuomintang party argued that the existing system adequately protects defendants’ rights and by “tightening standards, the court effectively abolished the death penalty without legislative consent.”  

The decision was met with disappointment from the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty. “If the Constitutional Court had upheld its role as a defender of human rights, and proclaimed that the death penalty is unconstitutional, it could have led the society beyond the instinctive reactions of revenge and intimidation, broken the cycle of hatred, and augmented possible means of healing. This hope was regrettably proven false today,” it said in a statement. Similarly, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International recognized that some progress had been made in the nation’s path towards abolition, despite the Court failing to abolish the practice entirely, and called upon the government to immediately impose a moratorium. “Today’s decision is a small step for human rights in Taiwan. The Constitutional Court has recognized the fundamental flaws of the death penalty and strengthened human rights protections for those on death row. Yet the death penalty remains on the books for several offences. This marks a start in Taiwan’s journey towards abolition, and we must ensure it does not stop here,” said E-Ling Chiu, Director of Amnesty International Taiwan. 

United States 

Five states (South Carolina, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, and Alabama) carried out five executions from September 20 to September 26, culminating in the 1600th execution since 1976. Ahead of the milestone, Amnesty International USA Researcher Justin Mazzola criticized the U.S. as a global outlier for retaining “the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment” that is “too flawed to fix.” He wrote: “All executions, no matter the method, are a violation of human rights, and states should move towards abolishing the death penalty instead of using resources to dream up and implement cruel ways of killing somebody.” Alabama’s execution of Alan Miller using nitrogen hypoxia, a newly devised execution method that has only been used once before earlier this year, marked the 1600th execution. Mr. Miller had previously survived a botched execution attempt in on September 22, 2022, a topic of concern discussed in the UN Secretary-General’s report on the question of the death penalty, recently released during the 57th regular session of the Human Rights Council. “The Human Rights Committee regretted the lack of information provided by the United States of America on allegations of the use there of untested lethal drugs to execute prisoners and on reported cases of excruciating pain caused by the use of those drugs and botched executions,” said the report, which also highlighted the lack of safeguards for those with psychosocial disabilities and the disproportionate impact on those of African descent. 

At the 1508th Meeting of the Committee of Ministers, the European Union similarly criticized the United States, as well as Japan, for its outlier status as a retentionist state. “The EU continues to regret that the USA and Japan, observer members of the Council of Europe, continue to apply the death penalty, deeply laments the executions in some US States since April 2024, and joins the appeal to promote an open and democratic debate with the aim of abolishing the death penalty and to remain engaged with the Council of Europe on this issue,” said the statement. 

Vietnam 

On September 24, 2024, Former chief accountant of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Nguyen Hoang, was convicted of embezzling more than 152 billion dong, or 6.2 million USD, from March 2009 to February 2023. Mr. Hoang admitted fault, explaining that he used the stolen funds for personal use and gambling. Earlier this year, Truong My Lan, chair of real estate company Van Thinh Phat, was sentenced to death in the nation’s largest ever financial fraud case.