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Secrecy surrounds death penalty

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:08:25 +0100

At least 1,200 people were executed in 2007 and many more were killed by the state, in secret, in countries including China, Mongolia and Viet Nam.

The figures come from Amnesty International's yearly statistics, Death Sentences and Executions in 2007, issued on Tuesday, which say that at least 1,252 people were executed in 24 countries and at least 3,347 people were sentenced to death in 51 countries. Up to 27,500 people are estimated to be on death row across the world.

The figures also show an increase in executions in a number of countries. Iran executed at least 317 people, Saudi Arabia 143 and Pakistan 135 – in comparison to 177, 39 and 82 executions respectively in 2006.

Eighty-eight per cent of all known executions took place in five countries: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the USA. Saudi Arabia had the highest number of executions per capita, followed by Iran and Libya. Amnesty International has been able to confirm at least 470 executions by China – the highest overall figure. However, the organization has said that the true figure for China is undoubtedly much higher.

China, which the report refers to as the world's top executioner, classifies the death penalty as a state secret. As the world and Olympic guests are left guessing, only the Chinese authorities know exactly how many people have been killed with state authorization.

"The secretive use of the death penalty must stop: the veil of secrecy surrounding the death penalty must be lifted. Many governments claim that executions take place with public support. People therefore have a right to know what is being done in their name," said Amnesty International.

During 2007, many countries continued to execute for crimes not commonly considered criminal, or after unfair procedures. Among them:

Ja'Far Kiani, father of two, was stoned to death for adultery in Iran in July.
A 75 year-old North Korean factory manager was shot by firing squad in October for failing to declare his family background, investing his own money in the factory, appointing his children as its managers and making international phone calls.
Mustafa Ibrahim, an Egyptian national, was beheaded in Saudi Arabia in November for the practice of sorcery.
Michael Richard was executed in Texas, USA, on 25 September after a state courthouse refused to stay open an extra 15 minutes to allow the filing of an appeal based on the constitutionality of lethal injections. Richard's attorneys had been unable to file the appeal on time because of computer problems; problems they had already brought to the court's attention. The US Supreme Court then refused to stop the execution. Earlier in the day, however, it had agreed in a Kentucky case to review the lethal injection issue, a decision that led to a de facto moratorium on all other lethal injection executions around the country. The Supreme Court's ruling is expected later this year.

Three countries – Iran, Saudia Arabia and Yemen – carried out executions for crimes committed by people younger than 18 years of age, against international law.

However, 2007 was also the year where there was good news about the death penalty. The United Nations General Assembly voted – by 104 to 54, with 29 abstentions – to end the use of the death penalty.

"The UN General Assembly took the historic decision to call on all countries around the world to stop executing people. That the resolution was adopted in December with such a clear majority shows the global abolition of the death penalty is possible," said Amnesty International.

"The taking of life by the state is one of the most drastic acts a government can undertake. We are urging all governments to follow the commitments made at the UN and abolish the death penalty once and for all."

Breakthrough UN resolution on global moratorium on executions (News, 15 November 2007)
Amnesty International's Death Penalty page

Former detainee reveals details of secret CIA program

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:49:27 +0000

The cruelty and illegality of the US government’s program of secret detentions can be illustrated by one man’s story. It is the story of a man who was never charged with any crime, but who was held in secret CIA custody for nearly three years, becoming the victim of enforced disappearance.

This man is 31-year-old Yemeni national Khaled Abdu Ahmed Saleh al-Maqtari, one of the men most recently released from the CIA’s secret detention program. In interviews with Amnesty International, he has given a full account of his ordeal since he was taken into custody by US forces in Iraq in January 2004.

Initially held in Abu Ghraib, Khaled al-Maqtari was transferred first to a CIA secret prison in Afghanistan, and then, in April 2004, to a second secret prison in an unidentified country – possibly in Eastern Europe. He was held there in complete isolation for a further 28 months, before being sent to Yemen and eventually released in May 2007.

His account contains numerous allegations of torture and other ill-treatment in detention. These include prolonged isolation, repeating beatings, sleep deprivation, forced nudity, exposure to extremes of hot and cold, as well as sensory deprivation and overload with bright lighting and loud music or repeated sound effects.

The effects of torture

Khaled al-Maqtari is now a free man, but he suffers the effects of psychological and physical torture and other ill-treatment.

The abuses that have affected him most, he said, were the years of endless isolation, his total uncertainty about his future, the constant monitoring by cameras and his segregation from the outside world, particularly the lack of contact with his family.

“At no point during his 32-month confinement was Khaled al-Maqtari told where he was or why. He did not have access to lawyers, relatives or any person other than his interrogators and the personnel involved in his detention and transfers. This clearly violates the USA’s international obligations. The US government has a case to answer”, said Anne FitzGerald, Senior Adviser at Amnesty International, who interviewed Khaled al-Maqtari.

Khaled al-Maqtari has not received any reparation from US authorities, who have yet to even acknowledge his detention.

Torture and enforced disappearance are both crimes under international law. They cannot be justified under any circumstances. Amnesty International has called on the US authorities to end these practices and bring those responsible for human rights violations to justice.

The world shouts 'Close Guantánamo'

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:55:25 +0000

Thousands of people, including Amnesty International members and supporters from around the world, have taken action to mark the sixth anniversary of the first transfers of detainees to Guantánamo. Amnesty International staged protests in 30 countries on Friday, 11 January.

Click on the pictures to the right to watch a slideshow with images of the day.

More than simply a call for closure, Amnesty International once again presented the US government with the organization’s framework for ending illegal detentions, whether at Guantánamo or elsewhere. This time, the framework was supported by over 1,200 parliamentarians from around the world.

In some countries, including Belgium and Ireland, some of the parliamentarians accompanied Amnesty International activists at their events and demonstrations.

The infamous orange jumpsuit – closely associated with the inhumanity and illegality of Guantánamo – became once more the icon of this anniversary. There was also street theatre, poetry readings, the recreation of Guantánamo cells in city centres, speeches, rallies and cyber activism.

US military chief wants to close Guantánamo

On Sunday, two days after the anniversary, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, US Navy Admiral Michael Mullen became the latest US official to say that Guantánamo should be shut down.

“More that anything else, I just think it has been the image – how Gitmo has become around the world, in terms of representing the United States. I believe from the standpoint of how it reflects on us that it’s been pretty damaging.”

What you can still do

Go to tearitdown.org and add your support to Amnesty International’s framework to end illegal US detentions.

Post a tearitdown banner in your website or blog.

Audio: Poems from Guantánamo, the detainees speak

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:44:27 +0000

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December Poetry Podcast (mp3 download)

In the past six years, at least 775 men have been held in the U.S detention centre at Guantánamo Bay. The men detained in the prison camp are routinely held in solitary confinement, condemned without a fair trail, many of them tortured. Through all this, some of the detainees have taken sanctuary in poetry some of which is now available in a new book Poems from Guantánamo, the detainees speak.

In this edition of the Amnesty International Podcast, a selection of these poems will be read for us by: the Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, former detainee Moazzam Begg, poet and writer Mogib Hassan and actor and musician Riz Ahmed.