URGENT APPEAL for Devender Pal Singh at imminent risk of execution in India

Devender Pal Singh

Devender Pal Singh is at risk of imminent execution in New Delhi, India, after the President of India rejected his mercy petition in May. This is the second petition rejected in the same month.

Devender Pal Singh (also known as Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar) was sentenced to death in August 2001 after being found guilty of involvement in bomb attack in New Delhi in 1993 that killed nine. He was found guilty solely on the basis of an unsubstantiated confession he made to police and later retracted as being made under police pressure. He was arrested under the subsequently-lapsed Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) at New Delhi Airport in January 1995, after being deported from Germany where he had sought political asylum. TADA is recognized as containing provisions that are incompatible with international standards for fair trial.

In March 2002, the death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court, with two judges in favor and the senior judge acquitting Devender Pal Singh. In December 2002, a review petition challenging the legitimacy of the death penalty was rejected by the same three judges maintaining a difference of opinion. The two judges in favor of the death sentence observed that the non-unanimous sentence could be a factor considered in the mercy petition process. Although other mercy petitions appear to have been accepted on the same ground, Devender Pal Singh's petition was rejected by the President in May 2011.

In addition to concerns about the fairness of the trial, the eight-year delay in announcing the verdict of the mercy petition and the resulting prolonged stay on death row may amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Devender Pal Singh was admitted into a New Delhi psychiatric facility in January and has reportedly attempted to commit suicide a number of times.

The Chief Justice of India has previously described the time spent by a condemned prisoner on death row as "living death". The Supreme Court of India has also ruled that delay in executing the death sentence is a factor in deciding on the commutation of a death sentence and has commuted death sentences in a number of cases due to long delays in deciding mercy petitions.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

International human rights standards and national and regional jurisprudence have recognized prolonged stays on death row as amounting to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment, while recognizing the right of a prisoner under sentence of death to make the maximum use of the judicial process available.

Lawyers for Devender Pal Singh filed a petition to the Supreme Court in May seeking commutation of the death sentence on the ground of delay. The mercy petition was rejected immediately after the Supreme Court sought an explanation for the delay from the Government of India.

This is one of two mercy petitions to have been rejected in May – the first since 2004, when the last execution in India took place. There has only been one execution in India since mid -1997, and the move to resume executions after a seven-year hiatus would put the country against the regional and global trend towards abolition of the death penalty.

UN bodies and mechanisms have repeatedly called upon Member States to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty, most recently through the adoption of a third UN General Assembly resolution on the matter in December 2010. In a general comment on Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which India is a State Party, the UN Human Rights Committee stated that Article 6 "refers generally to abolition [of the death penalty] in terms which strongly suggest... that abolition is desirable. The Committee concludes that all measures of abolition should be considered as progress in the enjoyment of the right to life... "

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases, regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or the method of execution.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:

-- Urge the authorities to commute the death sentence of Devender Pal Singh;

-- Acknowledge the seriousness of the crime for which Devender Pal Singh has been convicted, but raise concern that trial may not have met international fair trial standards and that his prolonged stay on death row, due to the mercy petition kept pending for eight years, may amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment;

-- Reiterating the call of the UN General Assembly to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty, and pointing out that India's decision to resume executions after a seven-year hiatus goes against regional and global trends towards abolition of the death penalty.

APPEALS TO:

Prime Minister of India

Dr. Manmohan Singh

South Block, Raisina Hill

New Delhi 110 001

INDIA

Fax: 011 9111 2301 9545

Email: (via form) http://pmindia.nic.in/feedback.htm

Salutation: Dear Prime Minister

President of India

Pratibha Patil

Rashtrapati Bhavan

New Delhi 110 004

INDIA

Fax: 011 9111 2301 7290 OR 011 9111 2301 7824

Email: (via form) http://helpline.rb.nic.in

Salutation: Dear President

COPIES TO:

Minister of Home Affairs

P Chidambaram

North Block, Central Secretariat

New Delhi – 110 001

INDIA

Fax: 011 91 11 2309 4221

Email: hm@nic.in

Ambassador Meera Shankar

Embassy of India

2107 Massachusetts Ave. NW

Washington DC 20008

Fax: 1 202 265 4351

Email: indembwash@indiagov.org OR info2@indiagov.org

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.

_________________________

Use the tags below or the search engine at the top of this page to find updates, older or related articles on this Website.

Comments

South Carolina | Inmate who believes he’s died repeatedly can’t be executed, judge rules

SPARTANBURG — A 59-year-old man sentenced to death for killing a state trooper in Greenville County in 2000 can’t be executed because of a mental illness that’s left him incoherent and believing he’s immortal, a Circuit Court judge has ruled. John Richard Wood is the first condemned inmate in South Carolina found not competent to be executed since the state restarted capital punishment in September 2024. The seven executions since then include three men who chose to die by firing squad — the latest in November. Wood, convicted 24 years ago, was among death row inmates in line to receive a death warrant after exhausting their regular appeals.

Idaho eyes restart of death row executions as firing squad draws near

BOISE, Idaho — Idaho’s prison system has nearly completed execution chamber upgrades to carry out the death penalty by firing squad as the state’s lead method and will have a team of riflemen ready to go by the time a state law takes effect this summer. As part of the transition, the Idaho Department of Correction hopes to limit participation by its officers as the shooting of condemned people in prison to death is prioritized over lethal injection. Toward that effort, prisoner leadership sought to implement a push-button technology to avoid needing IDOC workers to pull the triggers.

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a firsthand account of the final moments of Hamida Djandoubi, a convicted murderer executed by guillotine at Marseille’s Baumettes Prison on September 10, 1977. The record—dated September 9—was written by Monique Mabelly, a judge appointed by the state to witness the proceedings. Djandoubi’s execution would ultimately be the last carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. At the time, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing—who had publicly voiced his "deep aversion to the death penalty" prior to his election—rejected Djandoubi’s appeal for clemency. Choosing to let "justice take its course," the President allowed the execution to proceed, just as he had in two previous cases during his term: Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977. Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was execu...

China | Man sentenced to death for murder executed in Yunnan

Tian Yongming, who was initially sentenced for a series of violent crimes and then had his sentence changed to death early this year, has been executed in Yunnan province following approval from China's top court. The execution was carried out by the Intermediate People's Court in Yuxi, Yunnan, on Tuesday, with local prosecutors supervising the process. Before the execution, Tian was allowed to meet with his family members. The case dates back to September 1996, when Tian was sentenced to nine years in prison for the rape and attempted murder of his sister-in-law. After his release on July 15, 2002, he plotted revenge against the woman. On the night of Nov 13, 2002, he broke into her home armed with a knife.

South Dakota | Latest appeal from state's lone death row inmate denied

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit has rejected the latest appeal from Briley Piper, the only person on death row in South Dakota. In March 2000, Briley Piper, along with co-defendants Elijah Page and Darrell Hoadley, conspired to burglarize the Lawrence County home of 19-year-old Chester Poage before abducting and murdering him by beating, stabbing, and stoning in a remote area. Piper was subsequently arrested, convicted of murder, and sentenced to death, while his accomplices received either a death sentence—carried out against Page in 2007—or a sentence of life imprisonment without parole.

Iran to execute first woman linked to mass protests after ‘forced confessions’

Bita Hemmati and three others have been sentenced to death for 'collusion' and 'propaganda.' Advocates claim the charges are baseless, citing a secretive process and state-televised interrogations. Iranian authorities are preparing to execute Bita Hemmati, the first woman sentenced to death in connection with the mass protests in Tehran in late December and January, according to the US-based non-profit the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Judge Iman Afshari, of Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, sentenced Hemmati, her husband, Mohammadreza Majidi Asl, and Behrouz Zamaninezhad, and Kourosh Zamaninezhad to death on the charge of “operational action for the hostile government of the United States and hostile groups,” in addition to discretionary imprisonment period of five years on the charge of “assembly and collusion against national security.”

Texas | James Broadnax's appeals: US Supreme Court denies 2 claims, confession pending

Despite an 11th-hour confession from another man, James Broadnax is slated to be executed by the state of Texas later this week. Broadnax, 37, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection April 30 in Huntsville. He was condemned by a Dallas County jury in 2009 for the deaths of Stephen Swan, 26, and Matthew Butler, 28, outside their Garland music studio. Broadnax and his cousin, Demarius Cummings, had set out to rob the men, but left with only $2 and a 1995 Ford, according to previous reporting from The Dallas Morning News.

Florida executes Chadwick Scott Willacy

STARKE, Fla. -- A Florida man who set his neighbor on fire after she returned from work to find him burglarizing her home was executed Tuesday evening. Chadwick Scott Willacy, 58, received a three-drug injection and was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke for the 1990 killing of Marlys Sather. It was Florida's fifth execution this year. The curtain to the execution chamber went up promptly at the scheduled 6 p.m. time, and the lethal injection got underway two minutes later, after Willacy made a brief statement.

Arizona | Man who murdered pastor crucifixion style requests plea deal after parents killed in plane crash

Adam Sheafe, the California man who admitted to killing a New River, Arizona, pastor in a crucifixion-style attack, has asked prosecutors to offer him a plea deal that would result in a natural life sentence rather than the death penalty he had previously sought. Advisory council attorneys representing Sheafe sent a formal plea offer to prosecutors this week, about two weeks after his father and stepmother died in a plane crash at Marana Airport on April 8, according to 12 News. Sheafe, 51, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of William Schonemann, 76, pastor of New River Bible Church, who was found dead inside his home last April.

Florida executes James Ernest Hitchcock

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man convicted of beating and choking his brother’s 13-year-old stepdaughter to death nearly 50 years ago was executed Thursday evening. James Ernest Hitchcock, 70, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of the July 1976 killing of Cynthia Driggers. The curtain to the death chamber opened promptly at the 6 p.m. execution time. Hitchcock’s entire body was covered in a sheet up to his head. He stared at the ceiling as the team warden made a call, then gave his final statement.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog