Search Results for: firing squad

The principal cause of suffering during humanitarian crises is insufficient respect of applicable rules of international humanitarian law. – Peter Maurer As the United States moves out of Afghanistan, the Taliban are taking advantage of that move and have taken control of that war-torn land. The rule of law is fading with every step the [...]

The Parliament of Sierra Leone passed a bill Friday abolishing the death penalty. If given presidential assent, this law will see the west African country become the 23rd country in the continent to abolish the capital punishment. The country’s legal regime prescribes the death penalty for the offences of murder, treason, mutiny and aggravated robbery. [...]

A federal judge has ruled that San Francisco police officer Chris Samayoa will face a trial by jury for a civil case brought against him for shooting and killing a man fleeing from a stolen minivan in 2017. On December 1, 2017, Samayoa, at the time a rookie San Francisco police officer, was riding in [...]

The US Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal Monday from a death row inmate who sought to have his sentence carried out by firing squad because he believes it would be less painful than the state’s preferred method of execution. Ernest Johnson, a death row inmate in Missouri, suffers from epilepsy as a result [...]

The South Carolina House of Representatives passed a bill Friday that would enable convicted individuals to elect for execution by firing squad, rather than electrocution or lethal injection. The bill passed by a vote of 66-43 and requires that, if an individual waives his right to choose, execution will be administered by electrocution. A similar [...]

The South Carolina Senate voted 32-11 in favor of expanding permissible ways of executing death row inmates. The bill, which was introduced to the Senate last year, would allow firing squads and the electric chair to be used for executions. The bill was first introduced last December in response to an expiring lethal injection stockpile. [...]

Following a death row inmate testing positive for COVID-19, several US senators Tuesday sent a letter to the Department of Justice’s Inspector General requesting that he open an investigation into why the Trump administration resumed federal executions after a 17-year hiatus. The US federal government has executed 10 people since July, and three more are [...]

The US Department of Justice quietly amended its execution protocols Friday, dropping the requirement to carry out federal death sentences by lethal injection and clearing the way to use other methods, including firing squads, poison gas, hanging and electrocution. The amended rule, published in the Federal Register, specifically allows the US government to conduct executions [...]

Lagos governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu announced via Twitter Tuesday that a judicial investigation will begin into the protestor shootings that unfolded in the Nigerian city. The governor stated that “on our work to end police brutality, our judicial panel is ready to begin work. We want to find justice and provide compensation for victims to the [...]

Authorities in Lagos Tuesday imposed  a round-the-clock curfew following protests against alleged police brutality. According to eyewitnesses, 12 protestors and others were wounded after police forces opened fire on the protesting crowds. Protests began following the death of a young man at the hands of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) unit in early October. The [...]