Taiwan: Execution to go ahead despite foreign scholars' concern

The government will carry out executions in accordance with related laws, as most Taiwanese still support capital punishment despite recent concerns expressed by foreign scholars, the nation's justice minister said yesterday.

"Scholars have the right to express their personal views, but it is Taiwan's current law to have capital punishment," Justice Minister Tseng Yung-fu said yesterday in the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) will not suspend its policy of capital punishment, even though there is currently no timetable for the executions of those on death row, he added.

Citing surveys that show most Taiwanese people support the death sentence, Tseng said the MOJ will not be influenced by foreign countries in legal matters concerning capital punishment.

Tseng made the remarks yesterday when asked to comment on local media reports that two renowned scholars had asked Taiwan to halt the execution of death-row inmates.

The scholars, Manfred Nowak and Eibe Riedel, have been invited by the government to review its human rights report. They are scheduled to arrive in February.

The 2 scholars reportedly sent President Ma Ying-jeou a joint letter recently, asking that no further executions of death-row inmates be conducted before their visit.

The Presidential Office has not made any commitment, but referred the letter to the foreign and justice ministries, telling them to "handle it carefully," the reports said.

Asked to comment, Tseng yesterday said his ministry did not make any promises to anyone that no executions will be carried out before the two scholars' arrival.

Taiwan has not executed anyone this year. Five people were executed in 2011 and 61 people are currently on death row.

The death sentence issue has recently been widely debated in Taiwan following the murder of a 10-year-old boy in the southern city of Tainan.

The alleged murderer said he killed because he wanted to go to jail, adding that he did not expect to be given the death penalty for "killing 1 or 2 people."

Source: The China Post, December 11, 2012

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