[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 1


CANADA:

Canada court hears appeal of case that helped end death penalty


A young boy's murder conviction nearly 50 years ago that helped put an end
to Canada's death penalty has been re-examined by an appeals court.

Steven Truscott expressed hope going into the proceedings, expected to
last two-and-a-half weeks, that he would finally be exonerated in the rape
and strangling of a 12-year-old girl, and his 1959 first-degree murder
conviction quashed.

"If the exoneration is there, it's all been worth it," Truscott told
reporters Wednesday outside a Toronto courtroom. "We're quite confident."

Truscott, now 61, was only 14 years old when he was convicted of the
brutal murder of Lynne Harper near a former air force base, and became the
youngest person in Canada ever sentenced to hang.

The harsh punishment and subsequent questions about the trial itself
provoked a public outcry and fueled a push, already underway, to abolish
Canada's death penalty.

With television cameras broadcasting from the Ontario Court of Appeal, for
only the second time in Canadian judicial history, defence lawyers began
oral submissions Wednesday in their bid to prove Truscott was wrongly
convicted.

They planned to question autopsy results, provide "fresh evidence" and try
to discredit witnesses from that hot summer day when Harper disappeared.

Truscott had given the little girl a ride on his bicycle that day, but
always insisted they then parted ways.

In opening submissions, Truscott's attorney James Lockyer said: "If all
that material had been before the court in 1959 ... rather than being
sentenced to death he would have more likely been set free."

Truscott's sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1960, the same year
his first appeal was denied.

He served 10 years in prison before he was released on parole in 1969, but
has steadfastly maintained his innocence since his arrest.

A parliamentary committee had recommended exempting juvenile offenders
from the death penalty in 1956. Between 1954 and 1963, a private member's
bill was introduced in each parliamentary session calling for abolition of
the death penalty.

There were 710 executions in Canada between 1867 and 1962. The last
execution was carried out on December 11, 1962 when 2 men were hanged in
Toronto, Ontario. Thereafter lawmakers refused to approve executions.

On July 14, 1976 the House of Commons held a free vote and officially
abolished capital punishment, replacing it with a mandatory life sentence
without possibility of parole for 25 years for all first-degree murders.

Truscott went public with his story in 2000 in a bid to clear his name,
after decades working as a machine operator and living in anonymity with
his wife and family, under an assumed surname in Guelph, Ontario.

A 5-member panel must now decide whether to acquit Truscott, order a new
trial, stay proceedings or uphold his conviction.

(source: Agence France Presse)






DENMARK:

Foreign minister: not opposed to death penalty ban ---- The foreign
minister denies reports that Denmark opposed an Italian initiative to ban
capital punishment


The foreign minister, Per Stig Mller, has reiterated the country's
opposition to the death penalty, refuting a report that Denmark had
blocked an Italian initiative for unified EU opposition to capital
punishment.

The disputed information was published in the British newspaper The
Independent. The article indicated that at last week's EU foreign
ministers' meeting in Brussels, Denmark, Holland and Hungary had voted
against the Italian proposal, supporting the British view that a ban would
create difficulties for the United States.

'That information is completely false. At the meeting, Italy recommended
that the matter be forwarded to the presidency with the informal
assignment of investigating the possibilities to reopen the case within
the UN framework,' Mller told Danish daily Politiken.

'And there was backing for that proposal.'

Despite the Italian proposal for an EU bloc ban on capital punishment
being shot down, Mller said that Denmark would not waver in its support
for a global ban and would continue to back Italian efforts for the cause.

In November, Mller had publicly stated Denmark's opposition to the
execution of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

'We do not support the death penalty, something we have made clear to the
Iraqi government,' he said at the time.

The minister said Denmark's position on the matter has always been
unambiguous.

'Denmark is among the most active opponents of the death penalty and
supports all initiatives that can strengthen the fight against capital
punishment.'

(source: The Copenhagen Post)





FRANCE:

3RD WORLD CONGRESS AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY GETS UNDERWAY


More than 600 academics, lawyers, relatives of crime victims, journalists
and human rights activists from all over the world are gathering in Paris
on Friday and Saturday for the 3rd World Congress Against the Death
Penalty. Italy is spearheading a campaign to win international support for
an international moratorium on the death penalty - the ultimate punishment
carried out each year against thousands of people around the globe.

Delegates and decision-makers at the Paris will discuss current strategies
and issues relating to the goal of worldwide abolition of judicial
killings. They will focus particularly on the prospects for abolition in
North Africa, the Asia Pacific region and the Middle East, including
reforms on the political and legal process in those regions.

Other debates include "Islam and the death penalty" and "China and the
Olympic Games". China, which is due to host the next Olympic Games is
believed to execute as many as 8,000 people per year. The Congress will
also hear from those profoundly affected by the death penalty, including
exonerated former death row inmates, the families of condemned prisoners
and relatives of murder victims who campaign against killing in their
names.

The event will end on Saturday with a march through the streets of Paris.
It has been organised by Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort (ECPM -
Coalition Against the Death Penalty), which works in close cooperation
with the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and numerous other
partners.

"Progress has been dramatic," says top rights group Amnesty International,
which is attending the Paris conference. In 1977 only 16 countries had
abolished the death penalty for all crimes. Today the figure stands at 88.
A total 11 countries have abolished the death penalty for all but
exceptional crimes such as wartime crimes.

There are 29 countries which be considered abolitionist in practice: they
retain the death penalty in law but have not carried out any executions
for the past 10 years or more and are believed to have a policy or
established practice of not carrying out executions.

During 2005 - the latest year for which Amnesty has compiled statistics -
at least 2,148 people were executed in 22 countries and at least 5,186
people were sentenced to death in 53 countries. Amnesty says the true
figures were certainly higher.

Of all known executions in 2005, 94 percent took place in China, Iran,
Saudi Arabia and the USA. Iran executed at least 94 people, and Saudi
Arabia at least 86. There were 60 executions in the USA - where the number
is falling and and almost half are now carried out by the southern state
of Texas.

Based on available public reports, Amnesty International estimates that at
least 1,770 people were executed in China during the year. But a Chinese
legal expert was recently quoted as stating that the figurei is 8,000
based on information from local officials and judges. China's official
national statistics on the application of the death penalty remain
classified as a state secret.

8 countries since 1990 are known to have executed 47 prisoners who were
under 18 years old at the time of the crime: China, Congo (Democratic
Republic), Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, USA and Yemen. China,
Pakistan USA and Yemen have now raised the minimum age to 18 in law. The
USA and Iran have each executed more child offenders than the other 6
countries combined and Iran has now matched the USA's total since 1990 of
19 child executions. 8 child offenders were executed in Iran in 2005 and a
17-year old boy was executed in May 2006, according to information
provided by Amnesty.

(source: AJD/AKI)

*************************

BULGARIA'S OMBUDSMAN PARTICIPATES IN ANTI- DEATH PENALTY CONGRESS


Bulgaria's ombudsman Ginio Ganev will take part in the 3rd world congress
against the death penalty to be held in Paris.

French NGO Together Against the Death Penalty and the World Coalition
Against the Death Penalty organised the event, Darik Radio reported.

The trial of the five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death for intentional
HIV infection in Libya features among the topics of discussion.

Ganev will take part in the debate concerning the abolition of the death
penalty worldwide. He will also participate in a specialised discussion on
the trial of the nurses in Libya.

One of Bulgaria's biggest achievements was the abolition of the death
penalty in 1998, Ganev said. The country also ratified all international
conventions dealing with the issue and supported the worldwide abolition
of the penalty, said he.

(source: Sofia Echo)






MOROCCO:

Morocco to Abolish Capital Punishment


Morocco will become by the end of April the first Arab state to remove the
death penalty from its statute books, the president of the state appointed
Consultative Committee on Human Rights, Ben Dhikri, confirmed to Adnkronos
International (AKI) on Thursday. He is among 600 delegates gathered in the
French capital, Paris for a 2-day international conference against the
death penalty. Prospects for abolishing capital punishment in North Africa
are the main focus of the event - 'The 3rd World Congress Against the
Death Penalty'.

Dhikri said a "general consensus" in favour of ending capital punishment
exists among MPs in the current Moroccan parliament whose term ends in
April. Dhikri, who is a close advisor to Morocco's King Mohammed VI,
praised the monarch's appointment of a special legal commission tasked
with removing capital punishment from the country's penal code.

"The law has already been amended and capital punishment abolished for a
number of crimes," Dhikri explained. "The plan now is to revise Morocco's
constitution to remove the death penalty," he said.

"No true opposition to abolishing capital punishment exists, but there is
some concern about the growth of terrorism and new forms of the
phenomenon," Dhikri said. "The positive aspects of Islam need to be
stressed. It does not order people to kill, carry out reprisals or state
executions," he added.

Arab governments need to show themselves willing to take certain important
decisions such as that to abolish capital punishment, and give a lead to a
sometimes hesistant public, according to Dhikri. In Morocco, "a new moral
conscience has matured which has contributed to the abolition of the death
penalty," he said.

Commenting on the campaign Italy is leading at the 192 member United
Nations to win support for an international moratorium on the death
penalty - Dhikri said this is "helpful," but cautioned: "The problem with
the UN is the diplomatic accords make the application of international
conventions depend on the will of individual states."

Morocco - which has not applied the death penalty since 1993 - is among 29
countries which can be considered abolitionist in practice: they retain
the death penalty in law but have not carried out any executions for the
past 10 years or more.

A total 88 countries have completely abolished capital punishment and 11
have ended the death penalty for all but exceptional crimes such as
warcrimes, according to top campaign group Amnesty International.

(source: AKI)