[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 22



UNITED KINGDOM:

UK's drugs aid puts Britons at risk of execution ---- The Government is backing 
counter-narcotics raids in countries that have the death penalty



British citizens could be executed as a result of the Government's overseas 
funding for operations against drug-smuggling in counties where capital 
punishment is used.

The Home Office policy is "in effect helping to send large numbers of people, 
including British nationals, to the hangman's noose", according to the human 
rights group Reprieve. Britain has provided at least 12m pounds worth to 22 
counter-narcotics projects in Pakistan - where 6 British nationals are on death 
row for drugs offences - with the aim of increasing the number of drug arrests 
and prosecutions, which can result in death sentences.

The UK is also a major funder of Pakistan's anti-narcotics force, which has a 
92 % conviction rate and actively promotes on its website the number of death 
sentences it has secured for drug offences.

About 8,000 people are on death row in Pakistan, more than any other country in 
the world. A moratorium on the death penalty was lifted in December in the wake 
of the Peshawar school massacre, in which Taliban gunmen murdered 141 children 
and teachers. Since then, 24 people have been executed; another 500 are due to 
be killed in the coming months.

Although the Pakistani authorities stated that only those charged with 
terrorism offences would be executed, 2 murderers have since been hanged. 
Reprieve, which campaigns against the death penalty, says it is "highly likely" 
that similar punishments could soon be carried out on those convicted of drugs 
offences.

Maya Foa, the head of Reprieve's death penalty team, said: "Pakistan has the 
largest death row in the world, and is now actively executing prisoners - 
placing a number of Brits at risk. The UK government has given a series of 
flaccid excuses for continuing to support anti-drug raids in Pakistan, which 
very often see drug offenders sentenced to death."

There appears to be confusion within the Government over which department bears 
ultimate responsibility for the funding of counter-narcotics projects overseas. 
The Home Office has previously directed queries on the issue to the Foreign and 
Commonwealth Office (FCO), but earlier this month, Home Office minister Lynne 
Featherstone confirmed in a written parliamentary answer that her department 
was responsible.

"Now that the Pakistani authorities are once again carrying out executions, the 
lives of these people and many others are in grave danger," Ms Foa said. "If 
the UK is committed to ending the death penalty worldwide, why is British 
anti-narcotics aid supporting these drug convictions?"

More than 20 Britons are at risk of execution in Pakistan, according to figures 
published by the FCO earlier this month. Overall, a drugs-related offence is 
the most likely crime after murder to result in a British citizen facing the 
death penalty overseas.

The figures, released in response to a Freedom of Information request, also 
highlighted that up to 15 Britons are at risk of execution abroad due to 
drug-related prosecutions. 25 are facing the death penalty for murder, with 
others being prosecuted for offences ranging from blasphemy to terrorism.

The Government has previously given money to similar counter-narcotics projects 
in Iran - but in 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the funding had 
been withdrawn because of "concerns around Iran's use of the death penalty for 
drug offences". The Home Office must now take similar action in Pakistan, 
Reprieve said.

An FCO spokesman said: "It remains our long-standing policy to oppose the death 
penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. The British Government 
is not aware of any case in Pakistan where UK counter-narcotics co-operation 
has led to a death penalty sentence. We continue to review the situation as we 
have always done."

(source: The Independent)