Search Results for: abolish death penalty

Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema has said that his government would ask parliament to consider abolishing the death penalty. In a speech delivered on the eve of Africa Freedom Day Wednesday, Hichilema said, “We will work with parliament to run this process as we transition away from the death penalty and focus on the preservation, and [...]

Amnesty International Tuesday released its annual Report on Death Sentences and Executions which noted a sharp increase in executions in Iran and Saudi Arabia while describing global use of the death penalty between January and December 2021.  The report reflects that there was a rise in executions and death sentences in 2021 after Covid-19 restrictions [...]

Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Tuesday called on Iranian authorities to halt the execution of Ahmedreza Djalali and revoke his death sentence. Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian doctor and academic, is scheduled to be executed by May 21, 2022. Though they are still considering Djalali’s request to postpone the execution, Iranian [...]

The Kentucky Senate passed a bill Friday that would ban the death penalty on individuals diagnosed with specific mental illnesses. Under House Bill 269, defendants who show a documented history of mental illness at the time of the offense are immune from capital punishment. The defendant must show a diagnosis from a mental health professional. [...]

The Russian Federation Thursday announced its withdrawal from the Council of Europe (“the Council”). The country claimed that EU and NATO countries are using their absolute majority to continue to destroy the Council, of which Russia will no longer will be a part. Russia joined the Council of Europe, a leading human rights organization of [...]

The US Supreme Court Friday upheld the death sentence for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the two brothers responsible for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Tsarnaev was originally sentenced to death in 2015 for the attack, which killed three people and left hundreds seriously injured. However, in 2020, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals [...]

The United Nations and Amnesty International Tuesday urged Singapore not to resume executions after two years with no hangings. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a statement calling on Singapore to halt the executions of two men jailed on drug charges. Roslan Bin Bakar and Pausi Bin Jefridin were [...]

The United Nations Tuesday called on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to retain the moratorium on the death penalty following the verdict of the Military Court Ex-Kasai Occcidental in relation to the killings of Ms. Zaida Catalán and Mr. Michael Sharp, former members of the Group of Experts on the DRC. The DRC has observed [...]

A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) sentenced 51 individuals to death Saturday in relation to the 2017 murder of two UN experts. Zaida Catalán, a Swedish-Chilean citizen, and Michael Sharpe, an American citizen, were members of the Group of Experts on the DRC. They had been appointed to investigate the violence [...]

Papua New Guinea abolished the death penalty on Friday. Capital punishment had originally been abolished by the Australian administration in 1970. However, it was reinstated by the government in 1991 under the leadership of Prime Minister Rabbi Namaliu for willful murder, in relation to treason and privacy. The country has not executed anyone since 1954. [...]