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DEATH PENALTY 1998

NEWS 1 Easton Street AI Index: ACT 53/01/99 London WC1X 8DJ Distribution: SC/DP/PO/CO/GR

A QUARTERLY BULLETIN OF EVENTS ON THE DEATH PENALTY AND MOVES TOWARDS WORLDWIDE ABOLITION

TOTAL ABOLITION IN BULGARIA,

CANADA,

Bulgaria, and Lithuania have abolished Under the amended Penal Code, the the death penalty for all crimes, bringing to 67 death penalty is replaced by the number of totally abolitionist countries. without possibility of commutation. As with the death penalty which it replaces, this penalty In other important developments in December cannot be Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan instituted imposed on women who were pregnant at the moratoria on executions, while the USA carried time out its 500th execution since 1977. In , the of the offence or at the time of sentencing, issued a strong call for abolition (see people stories on pages 2 - 4) younger than 20, or soldiers younger than 18 for military offences or offences committed in time On 10 December, Rights Day, the of war, for whom the maximum penalty is life of Bulgaria voted to imprisonment with a possibility of commutation. abolish the death penalty from the Penal Code The death penalty was introduced in for all crimes. The vote represented the modern Bulgaria in 1896. A total of 915 people culmination of a process begun in 1990 were executed between 1951 and 1989. The last when a moratorium on the death penalty was execution in Bulgaria was carried out on 4 introduced. 1989, a year in which 14 people were In February 1998 President Petar executed. Since then the courts have continued Stoyanov proposed abolition to the Advisory to pass death sentences for aggravated murder. Council on National Security and in July the death penalty was removed from the Penal Code In Lithuania, the Seimas () voted on for the offence of intentionally causing death to 21 December by an overwhelming majority to one or persons as a result of a transport abolish the death penalty in the penal code and accident. In October the Legal Committee of replace it with life imprisonment. The the National Assembly recommended that the parliament also commuted to life imprisonment death penalty be abolished for all crimes. The the sentences of the nine prisoners then under first vote in the National Assembly was held on sentence of death. 27 November when the majority in favour of The decision by the Lithuanian abolition included members of all parliamentary parliament followed a Constitutional Court parties. About half of the 240 deputies ruling earlier in the month that capital participated in the final vote, where there were punishment violated the constitution. A 96 votes for abolition, 22 against and three moratorium on executions had been imposed by abstentions. the then President Algirdas Brazauskas in July 1996.

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law on 10 December. The effect was to abolish the death penalty for all crimes. In Canada, a bill removing the death penalty under the National Defence Act was signed into Canada had abolished the death penalty regretted the executions had taken place for murder in 1976 but retained it for certain despite his appeal for a stay. military offences under the National Defence By December a further 42 civilians and Act. The government had introduced the new Foday Sankoh, the leader of the armed bill into parliament in 1997. The bill was opposition Revolutionary Front (RUF), which adopted by the House of Commons (lower house joined the AFRC after the 1997 coup, had of parliament) on 11 and by the Senate on 1 been convicted and sentenced to death by the December. High Court. Unlike soldiers tried by court SIERRA LEONE - 24 SOLDIERS martial, those sentenced by the High Court EXECUTED BY FIRING SQUAD have the right to appeal to the Court of Appeal and, if the sentence is upheld, to the Supreme Twenty-four soldiers were executed in Sierra Court. Leone on 19 October despite international On 6 January 1999 rebel forces of the appeals for clemency. The executions were AFRC and RUF entered Freetown, breaking carried out in public on the outskirts of the into the main prison and freeing those under capital, Freetown, by a firing squad using sentence of death. automatic weapons. Together with 10 other soldiers, the 24 had been convicted on 12 October of offences “I have promised Amnesty International relating to the military coup in May 1997 in that I will never sign the death sentence which the elected government of President for a fellow human being. I would like Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was overthrown and the to reaffirm this commitment. Life is Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) sacred. I believe a person can reform. I seized power. The court martial which believe that forgiveness makes all of us convicted them refused to accept arguments better persons. In the cause of truth and that the death penalty was discretionary rather justice, I invite all heads of state in than mandatory for these offences. Africa, our common home, to abolish the Trials before courts martial in Sierra death sentence, to work for the removal Leone allow no right of appeal against of violence among our peoples and so to conviction and sentence to a higher prepare a better future for our children.” jurisdiction, in violation of international standards for fair trial. Those sentenced to - Dr Bakili Muluzi, President of the death sought clemency from a special of Malawi, in a message to the committee chaired by the President which Eighth General Assembly of the commuted 10 of the death sentences to life Council of Churches in Harare, imprisonment. Zimbabwe, Petitions on behalf of 18 of those 6-14 December 1998 sentenced to death had been submitted to the UN Committee under the (first) KYRGYZSTAN, TURKMENISTAN Optional Protocol to the International - MORATORIA DECLARED Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Committee later asked the government to Two central Asian members of the explain why it had ignored its request for a Commonwealth of Independent States have stay of execution. The UN Secretary-General, instituted moratoria on executions. , said on 22 October that he

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The moratorium in Turkmenistan was and sale of arms, to defend human life, to end announced at a meeting of the Council of the death penalty...” Foreign Ministers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in (OSCE) The , delivered to tens of in on 3 December and signed by thousands of people from a balcony in St President Saparmurad Niyazov on 6 Peter’s in Rome, was televised live to December. Addressing the Council, Foreign 45 countries. After this formal message the Minister Boris Shikhmuradov said he was Pope called for a “ban” on the death penalty in authorised by the President and Government informal remarks to the crowd. of Turkmenistan to inform them officially that Turkmenistan was declaring a moratorium on Earlier, in November, the Pope had the death penalty. He added that the number publicly expressed support for a worldwide of articles providing for the death penalty in moratorium on executions during the year national law would be radically reduced. “In 2000. taking this step, Turkmenistan is demonstrating in a practical way its adherence USA to the human values and ideals of the OSCE", Conference on wrongful convictions - he said. A national conference in November brought together nearly half of the 75 men and women In Kyrgyzstan the non-governmental who have been exonerated and freed after Bureau on Human Rights and the Rule of Law being sentenced to death in the USA since reported that a presidential decree for a 1976 for crimes they did not commit. Some two-year moratorium on the carrying out of had come within hours of their execution executions was signed by President Askar before the courts agreed to examine further Akaev on 5 December. The decree came into appeals. effect upon publication in the government gazette on 8 December and does not require The National Conference on Wrongful confirmation by parliament. The decree Convictions and the Death Penalty, held at states that the moratorium was inspired by Northwestern University School of Law in “the principles of humanism, esteem for and Chicago, Illinois, was attended by over 1,000 observance of the fundamental human rights lawyers and activists. Topics discussed and freedoms” and cites in particular the 50th included forensic investigation, legal aspects, anniversary of the adoption of the Universal traumatic effects of incarceration, and Declaration of Human Rights. techniques of organizing against the death penalty. The conference left the audience with POPE CALLS FOR ABOLITION the strong impression that most of the 75 former prisoners had been freed despite a Pope John Paul II has made his first judicial system riddled with procedural unqualified statement of opposition to the technicalities and mainly thanks to the death penalty. long-term work of tireless individuals, often working free of charge, who believed in the In his message on 25 prisoners’ cause. As one speaker put it, December the head of the Roman Catholic “They were released in spite of the system, not Church said: “May Christmas help to because of it.” strengthen and renew, throughout the world, the consensus concerning the need for urgent Texas - Sixty-one year-old Canadian Joseph and adequate measures to halt the production Stanley Faulder who was sentenced to death in Texas more than 20 years ago received a stay

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______of execution 30 minutes before the execution Convention on Consular Relations, to was due to take place on 10 December seek assistance from the Canadian consulate. following strongly-worded letters from US AI has learned that of more than 70 foreign Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to the nationals sentenced to death in the USA only Governor of Texas, George Bush, and to the three had been advised of their rights under the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. The law. case had received attention because Joseph Faulder’s lawyers claimed he was never informed of his right, under 36 of the Virginia - On 14 October Dwayne Allen October in the Bahamas despite having Wright was executed in Greensville for a petitions pending before the Inter-American crime committed when he was 17 years old. Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). He was the 12th juvenile offender executed The executions were the first in the country in the USA since the country resumed since 1996. The previous execution had been executions in 1977. In denying him in 1984. clemency, State Governor Gilmore ignored the many appeals directed to him from, among Expressing dismay, AI said the others, US Senator Edward Kennedy, the executions showed the government's contempt Reverend Jesse Jackson and the President of for the Inter-American system for the the American Bar Association, who protection of human rights. The Bahamas had reportedly wrote in a letter to the Governor: disregarded its obligation as a member of the “A borderline mentally retarded child simply Organization of American States to cooperate cannot be held to the same degree of with the IACHR and comply with its culpability and accountability for their actions procedures for considering petitions brought to which we would hold an adult.” Affidavits by its citizens, AI said. obtained from two jurors in Dwayne Wright’s trial in 1991 stated that they would not have The hangings followed a decision by sentenced him to death had they known he the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in suffered from brain damage at birth which left England, which serves as the highest court of him prone to violent outbursts. appeal for the Bahamas, that it would not be unconstitutional to execute Trevor Fisher South Carolina - On 18 December, Andy while his petition was pending before the Lavern Smith, who had been convicted of a IACHR. murder committed in 1983, became the 500th prisoner to be executed in the USA since the With these cases, the Bahamas joined resumption of executions in 1977. two other Caribbean countries in scheduling executions while prisoners' petitions were pending before the IACHR. Jamaica issued execution warrants in six such cases in 1998 DEVELOPMENTS IN THE and Trinidad and Tobago issued 10. All those ENGLISH-SPEAKING who were scheduled to be executed in the two countries have since been granted stays of CARIBBEAN execution pending decisions of the states' national courts on the constitutionality of Bahamas - two men executed while carrying out executions. petitions pending In the Inter-American Court of Trevor Fisher and Richard Woods, both Human Rights ruled in a case from Trinidad convicted of murder, were hanged on 15 and Tobago that should the government

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______execute people while they have petitions executions, Asma Jahangir, sent an urgent pending before the IACHR “it would create an appeal to the government of Trinidad and irremediable situation incompatible with the Tobago not to execute Indravani Pamela object and purpose of the American Ramjattan, a woman sentenced to death in Convention on Human Rights and would connection with the killing of her adversely affect the very essence of the common-law husband. The Special Inter-American System”. Rapporteur expressed concern at the fact that the abuse and extreme violence suffered by Trinidad and Tobago - appeal by Indravani Pamela Ramjattan, including Special Rapporteur beatings, threats to shoot her and repeated rape, had not been taken into account as a mitigating circumstance at the trial. On 29 the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary In a news release announcing the the International Covenant on Civil and appeal, the Special Rapporteur said she Political Rights (ICCPR). If not reversed, this considered that “domestic violence of the withdrawal will take effect on 5 April. nature seen in this case must now necessarily On the same day the government be accepted by all jurisprudence as legitimate notified the UN that it was rejoining as a state mitigating circumstances in any crime party to the Optional Protocol with a committed under such pressures. The death reservation purporting to preclude petitions penalty is too harsh a punishment for a crime from individuals claiming that their human committed in such situations.” rights have been violated in the course of capital proceedings against them. Guyana has At the end of the year the case of been a party since 1993 to the Optional Indravani Pamela Ramjattan was pending Protocol, which grants the Human Rights before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Committee competence to consider petitions Council in England, which serves as the brought by individuals who claim that a state highest court of appeal for Trinidad and party has violated their rights guaranteed under Tobago, and the Inter-American Commission the ICCPR. on Human Rights. A proposal by the government to take Asma Jahangir, a Pakistani lawyer with these moves had been approved by the extensive human rights experience, was National Assembly of Guyana on 16 appointed in August as UN Special Rapporteur November 1998. The vote in the National on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary Assembly followed an earlier declaration by executions, replacing Bacre Waly Ndiaye who the government that it would not follow the was appointed Director of the Office of the recommendation of the UN Human Rights UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at Committee to release two prisoners, Abdool the UN headquarters in New York Saleem Yasseen and Noel Thomas, who had been under sentence of death since 1987. The Human Rights Committee had concluded that Guyana - move to block international the two men’s rights to a defence and their rights to a trial without undue delay had been appeals violated.

The Government of Guyana on 5 January 1999 Guyana follows Jamaica and Trinidad reportedly filed an instrument notifying the and Tobago in withdrawing from the Optional UN Secretary-General of its withdrawal as a Protocol, the only countries ever to have done state party from the (first) Optional Protocol to

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______so. Jamaica withdrew as of January 1998 and Akira, Ida Masmichi and Nishio Tatsuaki were Trinidad and Tobago as of August 1998. hanged without prior warning to their families Trinidad and Tobago immediately filed an or lawyers. They had been held in solitary instrument to rejoin the Optional Protocol with confinement with only limited contact with the a reservation which aimed to preclude the outside world. In keeping with a new policy, Human Rights Committee from considering the Japanese government made a public communications from prisoners sentenced to announcement of the executions on the day the death (see DP News June 1998). sentences were carried out but refused to disclose the names of those executed. The executions were carried out just three weeks NEWS IN BRIEF after the UN Human Rights Committee had urged the Japanese government to take - Three men were executed on 19 measures towards the abolition of the death November after having spent between 10 and penalty. 20 years under sentence of death. Tsuda In October AI launched a year-long campaign Pakistan - A 13-year old boy, Mohammad on human rights issues in the USA including Saleem, was sentenced to death on 19 the death penalty. The campaign report, USA: December along with three men after a trial Rights for All (AI Index: AMR 51/35/98), lasting 12 days, on charges of murdering three includes a chapter on the death penalty. police officers. On 7 January 1999 he was Other papers on the death penalty issued in acquitted for lack of evidence and ordered to connection with the campaign include USA: be released. The death sentences of the three Fatal Flaws - Innocence and the Death men were commuted to life imprisonment. Penalty (AI Index: AMR 51/69/98), and On the Wrong Side of History - Children and the Uzbekistan - During its August session, the Death Penalty in the USA (AI Index: AMR Oliy Majlis (parliament) removed the death 51/58/98). penalty for "unnatural sex" with a person under 14 years of age accompanied by the use of force; "contravening the rules and customs of war"; attempt on the life of the President; espionage; and smuggling weapons of mass INTERNATIONAL TREATIES destruction or narcotics. The death penalty remains in force for aggravated murder and ratified the Second Optional seven other crimes. Protocol to the International Covenant on

Civil and Political Rights on 8 December The authorities described the decision 1998 and acceded to the as part of a policy of abolishing the death Protocol on 10 December, bringing the total penalty by stages, citing "the international number of states parties to 35. obligations which the Republic of Uzbekistan has taken upon itself in the human rights ratified Protocol No. 6 to the sphere" and in particular Article 3 [right to European Convention on Human Rights on life] of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 8 September and Belgium ratified the Protocol on 10 December, bringing the total of states parties to 30 as of 1 January 1999, NEW AI REPORTS the date when Belgium’s ratification enters into force.

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DEATH PENALTY STATISTICS

Abolitionist and retentionist countries (31 December 1998)

Abolitionist for all crimes 67 Abolitionist for ordinary crimes 14 Abolitionist de facto 24 Retentionist 90

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