[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 10



TRINIDAD & TOBAGO:

Banish the death penalty, say Catholics----..."the prophetic voice of the 
Church must be heard"


On the occasion of World Day Against The Death Penalty, observed today, the 
Catholic Commission for Social Justice (CCSJ) has reminded Trinidad and Tobago 
of the call in September by the Roman Catholic Bishops of the Antilles 
Episcopal Conference (AEC), for the death penalty to be banished from the 
region.

In a statement last week, CCSJ chair Leela Ramdeen noted the statement by the 
Archbishops on September 21, which she said should be read in conjunction with 
2 of the Bishops' Pastoral Letters, namely: (a) Jubilee Year 2000, Antilles 
Episcopal Conference Pastoral Letter on Capital Punishment; and (b) We are 
called to proclaim, celebrate and serve The Gift of Life, Pastoral Letter of 
the Antilles Episcopal Conference, Rome, March 29 2008.

Ramdeen noted that reaffirmation of the Bishops that "the prophetic voice of 
the Church must be heard especially in times of moral and social crisis".

It also stated : "Thus, while we are appalled by the rise of violent crime in 
our region and express solidarity with the victims of crime and all those 
affected by crime, we urge politicians and citizens in our region to abolish 
capital punishment, that is, the death penalty and embrace a restorative 
justice approach to crime and violence."

According to the Bishops, Ramdeen said key watchwords of a Restorative Justice 
approach lie at the heart of Christian living, for example, repentance, 
conversion, reparation, restoration, restitution, reconciliation, 
rehabilitation, forgiveness, empowerment, and re-integration with a sense of 
responsibility - as opposed to revenge, retribution, and vengeance.

The Bishops had also stated that all recent International studies and research 
show that capital punishment does not act as a deterrent, nor does it foster 
respect for life in our communities.

"Hence, regardless of the potential unpopularity of our Gospel message that 
informs our position, we reaffirm the position: Capital punishment symbolizes a 
form of despair for the effective reform of persons," the Bishops stated.

"Let us pray and work for the renewal of hearts and minds and find more 
sustainable and effective solutions aimed at reducing crime and violence in our 
region and in the world."

Ramdeen noted the statement by the Bishops that:

"We urge our Governments to strengthen the capacity of public institutions, 
including criminal justice systems, to address crime and violence; to address 
the risk factors that contribute to crime, for example: poverty, urban decay, 
social inequality and exclusion, family disintegration, poor parenting, lack of 
quality education and employment, poor housing, the proliferation of guns, 
drugs and gangs in the region, and to employ related preventive measures. We 
stand ready and urge our faithful and all people of good will to work together 
to this end."

She said Pope Francis has repeatedly called for the abolition of the death 
penalty, which, he says, "is an offence to the inviolability of life and to the 
dignity of the human person."

"He is urging nations to realise that God's infinite mercy extends to everyone 
- including those who have committed heinous crimes," Ramdeen stated.

"He has stated that, 'For the rule of law, the death penalty represents a 
failure, as it obliges the state to kill in the name of justice'."

Ramdeen said there is discussion in some quarters about the method of killing, 
as if it were possible to find ways of "getting it right".

"But there is no humane way of killing another person. The commandment 'thou 
shall not kill' has absolute value and pertains to the innocent as well as the 
guilty."

(source: Trinidad Express)






IRELAND:

Women and the death penalty in Ireland----The stories of the only 2 women 
hanged for murder in 20th-century Ireland and those who were sentenced to death 
only to be given a last-minute reprieve


100 years ago Countess Markievicz was sentenced to death for her part in the 
Easter Rising, but was recommended for mercy "solely and only on account of her 
sex". She was one of a large number of women who had the ultimate punishment 
imposed on them in 20th-century Ireland but as was the case for the vast 
majority of women she would see her death sentence commuted to imprisonment at 
the last minute.

2 women would pay the ultimate price for murder after 1900, however. Mary Daly 
lived in Crettyard, Co Laois in the early part of the century and was married 
to John. The couple had 2 children but their marriage was said to be far from 
harmonious. The Dalys were at loggerheads constantly and Mary was even said to 
have attacked her husband with a hatchet on one occasion. At some point in 
their marriage she began having an affair with her neighbour, Joseph Taylor, 
although he was about 15 years younger than she was. She complained about her 
husband to Taylor and eventually the 2 lovers decided that killing John would 
be to their advantage.

Mary seemed to have been the instigator, giving money to the young man in 
return for completing the grim task. Taylor, after drinking alcohol all day, 
arrived at Daly's house on the night of June 16th, 1902. He beckoned John Daly 
over, before beating him to the ground. He then kicked the older man repeatedly 
before finally getting a pitchfork and using it to brutally finish him off. 
Mary Daly's two children witnessed the attack and gave evidence against their 
mother and Taylor. The court eventually decided that Mary Daly, along with her 
lover, deserved to be executed for their crime and both were hanged within days 
of each other. Mary Daly would be the 1st woman executed in Ireland for more 
than 30 years. Offaly woman Margaret Sheil had been put to death in 1870 along 
with her brother Lawrence after the pair killed their neighbour, Patrick Dunne.

It would be 22 years after Mary Daly's death that another woman would suffer 
the same fate. The similarities in the 2 cases are striking. Annie Barrett 
married Ned Walsh in 1916 and moved to his family home in Fedamore, Co 
Limerick. Ned was 30 years Annie's senior and the couple lived in abject 
poverty in a small cottage outside the village. It was an unhappy marriage and 
Annie Walsh began an affair with her husband's nephew, Michael Talbot. The 
lovers eventually decided to murder Ned Walsh. They hoped that Annie would 
receive compensation for his death and they could use it to elope together. Ned 
Walsh was killed in his own home with a hatchet on the night of October 25th, 
1924.

Annie did not stick to their story about an intruder, however. After rigorous 
questioning she told garda??? that Michael Talbot had murdered her husband. 
Talbot, realising that he had been double-crossed, pointed the finger at Annie 
Walsh for the murder. Both defendants pleaded not guilty in court, with each 
placing the blame squarely on the other. It would not prove to be a clever 
strategy. Both prisoners were found guilty and hanged in August 1925. Annie 
Walsh had hoped until the end that her sentence would be commuted. Looking at 
the history of condemned women in Ireland, it was a reasonable aspiration. For 
reasons known only to the Irish Government of the time, however, Annie Walsh 
would not receive a commutation and would be the only woman hanged by an 
independent Ireland.

Despite these 2 exceptions, women would generally have a far better chance of 
seeing their death sentence reprieved than men. Of the criminals hanged for 
murder in Ireland in the 20th century, only 2 of over 40 would be female. One 
woman who committed an unspeakable crime but received a reprieve in the early 
days of the State was Hannah Flynn. Flynn was from Killorglin and had been 
dismissed from her job as a domestic servant by the O'Sullivans in 1922. Flynn, 
described as sullen and rather dull, harboured a burning resentment towards her 
former employers, however. She threatened them with violence several times and 
attacked Daniel O'Sullivan. On Easter Sunday 1923, Daniel went to Mass, leaving 
his wife Margaret at home to prepare for dinner. When he returned home he found 
her beaten to death after a horrific and prolonged attack with a hatchet. Money 
and valuables had also been stolen from the house. Flynn had been seen in the 
area and footprints outside the house matched her shoes. She was also found to 
have Margaret's shawl in her possession. The jury needed little time to find 
her guilty and sentenced her to death, a sentence that was commuted days 
afterwards. She would serve 18 years in prison before being released into a 
convent.

Other women who would see the judge place the black cap on his head and 
pronounce the dreaded death sentence on them were Jane O'Brien, Mary Somerville 
and Mary Agnes Daly. All three would be reprieved shortly before their 
sentences was due to be carried out. 60-year-old O'Brien had shot her nephew 
dead in Killinick, Co Wexford in 1932 after he threatened to evict her from the 
farmhouse they shared in the village. Somerville was found guilty of taking her 
unmarried daughter's new-born baby girl and throwing her into a pond outside 
her Co Monaghan home in 1938. 10 years later Mary Agnes Daly (27) would spot 
83-year-old Mary Gibbons kneeling in prayer in a church in Glasnevin. Daly, who 
was in arrears with her rent money, beat the elderly woman over the head with a 
hammer in an attempt to steal her bag. She would die some days later. Daly 
denied the crime but was caught red-handed and sentenced to death. After a 
reprieve she would spend six years in jail instead.

Another condemned woman was Frances Cox from Co Laois. Cox was a Protestant and 
due to marry a local Catholic, a match of which her brother Richard did not 
approve. Fearing her lover was getting cold feet, Frances decided to kill her 
brother to speed up the wedding process. She put strychnine in several drinks 
she prepared for Richard, eventually causing him an agonising death. Suspicion 
was quick to fall on her and she was found guilty of murder after a 6-day trial 
in December 1949. Cox would also have a narrow escape, being reprieved 2 weeks 
before her date with the hangman Pierrepoint. The death penalty for common 
murder would remain on the Irish statute books until 1964. Among the last 
prisoners to be under sentence of death was American citizen Mamie Cadden, 
known in Dublin as the Hume Street abortionist. She performed illegal 
terminations in her home in Dublin but when a client, Helen O'Reilly, died on 
the operating table in her kitchen in 1956, Cadden coldly left her body lying 
on the street. The details of the case stunned Ireland, a conservative nation 
in the 1950s where abortion was strictly prohibited. Cadden was sentenced to 
hang, before having her sentence commuted to penal servitude for life. After 
just a year in prison she was declared insane and transferred to Dundrum Mental 
Hospital where she died 2 years later.

In 1964 the law was altered so that the death sentence could only be pronounced 
in the case of capital, or political, murder. Marie Murray would be the last 
woman in the condemned cell. She and her husband Noel were found guilty of 
murder in 1975 after Garda Michael Reynolds was shot dead. The Garda was 
running after the pair who had just robbed a bank in Killester. Although 
overtures were allegedly made to England for the employment of a hangman, the 
pair eventually received a reprieve and were sentenced to penal servitude for 
life.

In 1990, the government passed the Criminal Justice Act, which prohibited 
capital punishment for all crimes, including treason and capital murder. These 
offences would now receive a mandatory 40-year jail term without parole 
instead. In 2001, Ireland went a step further when 62 % of the Irish electorate 
voted to place a constitutional ban on the death penalty, even in wartime. 47 
years after the last execution by the State, and 76 years after the execution 
of Annie Walsh, the hangman's noose was put away forever.

(source: Colm Wallace is the author of Sentenced to Death: Saved from the 
Gallows (Somerville Press), about 30 Irish men and women who had the death 
penalty imposed on them between 1923 and 1985.----The Irish Times)






EUROPE:

Council of Europe, EU Reaffirm Absolute Opposition to Death Penalty


The Council of Europe and the European Union reaffirmed on Monday their strong 
rejection and denouncement of the death penalty in all circumstances and for 
all cases. A statement by EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and 
Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland comes as October 
10 marks the European and World Day against the death penalty.

"Today, on the European and World Day against the Death Penalty, the Council of 
Europe and the European Union reaffirm their strong and unequivocal opposition 
to capital punishment in all circumstances and for all cases. The death penalty 
is incompatible with human dignity. It is inhuman and degrading treatment, does 
not have any proven significant deterrent effect," a statement on the Council 
of the European Union's website said.

The Council of Europe and the European Union noted that the abolition of the 
death penalty was a big achievement in Europe and that it was a prerequisite 
for any country seeking membership of the Council to ban the death penalty. 
Mogherini and Jagland urged political leadership of all countries in the 
European Union and the Council of Europe to comply with their obligations.

"Today more than 2/3 of all countries have abolished the death penalty in 
either law or practice. However, the Council of Europe and the European Union 
regret that the number of executions have risen in some of those countries that 
retain the death penalty and that some countries which had a de facto 
moratorium carried out executions," the statement said.

According to watchdog Amnesty International, by the end of 2015, 102 countries 
had completely abolished the death penalty. Belarus is currently the only 
European country where capital penalty is still applied, while the United 
States is the only Western country to still use the death penalty.

(source: sputniknews.com)






BELARUS:

Belarusian authorities not to abolish death penalty regardless of social 
pressure and recommendations from Western capitals


Belarus is the last country in Europe exercising the death penalty. As usual, 
the Belarusian authorities are willing to negotiate the abolition of the death 
penalty, but unlikely to take any action. It should be noted, however, that the 
president talked about the probability of a referendum, which, could include 
questions about abolishing the death penalty in the country. Meanwhile, in the 
past, the Belarusian authorities repeatedly stated the intention to review 
approaches to the death penalty. The Belarusian authorities are likely to 
engage in discussions with MEPs about the abolition of the death penalty, but 
unlikely to take the decision.

(source: belarusinfocus.info)






GLOBAL:

On World Day against Death Penalty, Ban says practice 'has no place in the 21st 
century'


United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called the death penalty a 
cruel and inhumane practice - one that 65 countries globally retain for 
terrorism-related offenses ??? which is the focus of this year's World Day 
against the Death Penalty.

"It has no place in the 21st century," Mr. Ban stressed in his message for the 
Day, commemorated annually on 10 October. "To be legitimate and effective, 
counter-terror measures, like all security operations, must be anchored in 
respect for human rights and the rule of law," he added

Yet death sentences for terrorism are often handed down after unfair and speedy 
trials by military or special courts.

In his message, the UN chief noted that confessions were often obtained under 
duress or in other ways in which the right to appeal is not respected. Some 
States even sought to criminalize the legitimate exercise of fundamental 
freedoms by including vague definitions in counter-terrorism legislation.

"Let us be clear: participation in peaceful protests and criticism of a 
government - whether in private, on the Internet, or in the media - are neither 
crimes nor terrorist acts," underscored Mr. Ban. "The threat or use of the 
death penalty in such cases is an egregious violation of human rights," he 
added.

Some may argue that capital punishment would diminish terrorism, he went on to 
say, but, emphasized: "This is not true. Experience has shown that putting 
terrorists to death serves as propaganda for their movements by creating 
perceived martyrs and making their macabre recruiting campaigns more 
effective."

He urged everyone to continue working to abolish the death penalty in all 
circumstances and places.

"Let our actions always be guided by the moral compass of human rights - the 
most effective route to a safer, more just and secure world," concluded Mr. 
Ban.

No deterrent for terrorism

In Geneva, a group of UN human rights experts meanwhile has reminded 
Governments around the world that capital punishment is an ineffective 
deterrent for terrorism - and most times an unlawful one.

In a press statement, the UN Special Rapporteurs on summary executions, Agnes 
Callamard, on torture, Juan E. Mendez, and on human rights while countering 
terrorism, Ben Emmerson, stressed that the threat of terrorism does not justify 
departing from international standards for the protection of human rights.

Faced with terrorist attacks or terrorist threats in their countries, some 
governments have recently turned to the death sentence in an attempt to curb 
terrorist action, by either expanding the scope of offenses punishable by death 
or resuming executions for terrorist-related offences after years of 
moratoriums in executions.

"These measures are problematic in many ways," warned the UN rights experts. 
"Reintroducing the death penalty in countries that were de jure or de facto 
abolitionist runs contrary to the international trend towards the progressive 
abolition of the death penalty."

The General Assembly has repeatedly called on Member States to progressively 
restrict the use of the death penalty and reduce the number of crimes 
susceptible of such punishment.

In almost all regions in the world, Governments invoke the death penalty in 
anti-terrorism campaigns - with 15 nations having carried out executions over 
the last 10 years. In 2015capital punishment was imposed for these offences in 
at least seven countries, with most executions taking place in the Middle East 
and North Africa.

According to the UN experts, some countries made legal changes to introduce or 
expand the scope of the death penalty to terrorism-related offences.

They continued: "Many of those offenses do not amount to 'most serious crimes' 
- meaning those involving intentional killing - for which the death penalty may 
be imposed under international law."

The experts pointed out that arbitrary sentencing exists in a small minority of 
countries around the world, which most frequently resort to capital punishment. 
They added that many States that use it for terrorism-related offences lack a 
system of fair trial.

"Executions carried out without adherence to the strictest guarantees of fair 
trial and due processes are unlawful and tantamount to an arbitrary execution," 
emphasized the experts. "We have called on those governments once and again to 
halt such executions and to retrial the defendants in compliance with 
international standards," they said.

The experts see the World Day against the Death Penalty as an opportunity to 
reflect on the worrying development.

Noting the world trend towards abolition, with new countries each year 
eradicating capital punishment, they said it was disturbing that a small 
minority of States disregarded international standards "in their quest to 
thwart a real or perceived threat posed by terrorism."

Finally they encouraged everyone to reflect on the role that the international 
community can play in confronting the practice.

"We call on agencies and States offering financial or technical cooperation to 
counter terrorism to ensure that the programmes to which they contribute do not 
ultimately result in violations of the right to life," concluded the UN 
experts.

Special Rapporteurs are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council and are 
independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual 
capacity.

(source: un.org)

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

We stopped burning witches - isn't it time we stopped putting people to 
death?----There are still 2,905 people on death row in the US and 8,200 in 
Pakistan.


Given my 3-decade obsession with fighting the death penalty in the US and 
around the world, people often quiz me on whether I think I will see the last 
execution chamber abolished in my lifetime. To which my reply tends to be that 
it depends on my consumption of gin and tonic - it could go either way, and I 
must hope that a bit of gentle pickling will increase my longevity.

In the execution premier league, there are 25 countries that carried out 
executions last year. Compare this to the 171 countries that did not play the 
game, and the death of the death penalty would seem to be on the near horizon.

In this regard, 2 matters are clear: 1st, that the history books will not be 
kind to capital punishment. We don't celebrate burning witches at the stake as 
the harbinger of the Enlightenment, and we won't look back on the gas chamber, 
the electric chair and the lethal injection gurney as the apogee of 21st 
century civilisation.

2nd, however, no matter what the timeline, there are thousands of people on 
death row around the world today for whom the discussion is academic. They 
won't live to see abolition because they will already have been methodically 
trussed up for execution.

As of today, there are 2,905 people on death row USA and some 8,200 awaiting 
the hangman's noose in Pakistan. The numbers in Iran and China are equally 
vast, but shaded in secrecy - with both countries being much more efficient 
killers.

If the death penalty is in its death throes then, like a wild animal, the 
executioner is thrashing wildly about himself. In 2015, more than 1,694 people 
were executed, up by half from the year before. Some said Saudi's new king 
would start discarding the raiments of conservatism: instead, executions 
accelerated, and the new king tried to include a number of juveniles like Ali 
al-Nimr under the slice of the scimitar, and the nails of crucifixion. In Ali's 
case, his crime was being a Shia youth who allegedly joined a protest for equal 
rights with the Sunni majority. On a day when 44 other people died, Ali 
survived only through massive international pressure - partially, initially, 
engendered through this publication.

Pakistan lifted a 6-year moratorium and executed 400 people in short order. 
Such was the dedication of the new government that Abdul Basit was wheeled 
towards the gibbet on 3 occasions, each delayed because the government had not 
devised a plan for how they might hang a paraplegic who could not climb the 
stairs to the noose.

Most would accept that mistakes in the death penalty run through every level - 
by definition, since we are mortal rather than omniscient. However, few 
appreciate just how flawed the system is. In some ways, everyone is in the 
wrong job when it comes to judging those proposed for execution. The innocent 
defendant is his own worst enemy - wanting to rush to trial, without spending 
the time (or, if he has it, the money) to prepare. To be sure, capital 
punishment is when those without the capital get the punishment - and the 
defence lawyer is likely to be inept, funded at a derisory level by the state, 
while the best and the brightest lawyers rush off to defend banks and 
corporations.

It is in the role of the police officer and the prosecutor where we would hope 
for maximum caution and open-mindedness, if we are to avoid a miscarriage of 
justice. Yet the opposite is true: those who are willing to judge their fellow 
man tend to be the most dogmatic among us, which is hardly surprising as who 
among us is willing to go to work every day wondering how many innocent people 
we might condemn today?

And those high-minded jurists who seeks always to right an error are uncommon 
beasts as well, since judges tire of the endless last-minute appeals in capital 
cases, and seek to shut them down with arcane procedural rules.

In the end, though, it all comes down to the individual human beings. In 1987, 
I raised what I thought was a compelling reason why Edward Earl Johnson should 
not be executed. At the time, the learned judges of the federal Fifth Circuit 
Court of Appeals told me I was wrong. 5 years later, the issue reached the 
Supreme Court, and the government argued strenuously the precedent from 
Edward's case meant the prisoner should lose. "The short answer to the state's 
argument," Justice Kennedy wrote tersely, "is that the Fifth Circuit made a 
serious mistake in ... Johnson."

The problem, of course, was that the same evening that the Fifth Circuit made 
that "serious mistake", Mississippi had been permitted to execute Edward - as 
midnight approached on May 21, 1987, I walked into the gas chamber with him. We 
are all fallible, and my own failure was writ large in the BBC/HBO documentary 
about the case, Fourteen Days in May. Edward was innocent, and Justice 
Kennedy's post-mortem recognition of his right to life failed to result in his 
reincarnation.

He was 2 years younger than me, and today should be enjoying his 55th year 
among friends and family in Walnut Grove, Mississippi. Instead, on May 21, 
2017, I shall glumly mark the 30th anniversary of his death.

There are many other Edward Johnson's waiting in their prison cells. How many 
of them must die before we call time on the foul practice of sacrificing a 
fellow being on the false altar of deterrence?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clive Stafford Smith is the Director of the legal action charity Reprieve, at 
www.reprieve.org.uk

(source: ibtimes.co.uk)