Death Penalty News

A court ruling in Taiwan could lead to abolishing capital punishment on the island. Given strong public support for the death penalty, how will the court reconcile constitutional human rights with Taiwanese society? Taiwan's Constitutional Court on Tuesday debated the island's death penalty and discussed whether it violates the rights guaranteed under the Taiwanese constitution.

More than 100 people were arrested for attending a gay wedding in Nigeria under the country’s draconian homosexuality laws. Police stormed a hotel in Ekpan town, Delta state, southern Nigeria, at around 2am on Monday and arrested more than 100 “gay suspects”. At least sixty-seven people have been detained. Two of those detained in the arrests, one of the country’s largest targeting homosexuality, got married at the event, Delta State Command spokesman Bright Edafe told a press conference.

Mohamed Bazoum, the President of Niger, has reportedly announced plans to make homosexuality illegal in the African nation. News website 76 Crimes , which tracks developments in countries where homosexuality in illegal, reported the President recently made the announcement during a radio interview. Currently homosexuality is not illegal in the country, but the nation is preparing to remove the colonial era French laws and bring in an entirely new penal code.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis criticized laws that criminalize homosexuality as “unjust,” saying God loves all his children just as they are and called on Catholic bishops who support the laws to welcome LGBT people into the church. “Being homosexual isn’t a crime,” Francis said during an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is hearing the case Monday of a Christian graphic artist who objects to designing wedding websites for gay couples, a dispute that's the latest clash of religion and gay rights to land at the highest court. The designer and her supporters say that ruling against her would force artists — from painters and photographers to writers and musicians — to do work that is against their faith. Her opponents, meanwhile, say that if she wins, a range of businesses will be able to discriminate, refusing to serve Black customers, Jewish or Muslim people, interracial or interfaith couples or immigrants, among others. The case comes at a time when the court is dominated 6-3 by conservatives and following a series of cases in which the justices have sided with religious plaintiffs. It also comes as, across the street from the court, lawmakers in Congress are finalizing a landmark bill protecting same-sex marriage. The bill, which also protects interracial marria...

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The Supreme Court begins its new term Oct. 3, jumping right back into the fray with cases that take on affirmative action, voting, immigration, the environment and freedom of speech. Ketanji Brown Jackson This term will include a new member, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, replacing Justice Stephen Breyer, who retired at the end of last session. It also will be the first time the public will be allowed back inside the court since the start of the pandemic. The building will will remain closed to the public — except for oral arguments — until further notice. In a Sept. 28 news release, the court announced that it will continue to provide live audio of oral arguments this term. Another change is outside. Barriers around the court since May — after protests erupted following a leak of the court’s draft opinion on its Dobbs decision — have now been removed. The investigation into that leak, ordered by Chief Justice John Roberts, is still continuing. For now, the court has...

In an interview with Bloomberg, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam was asked about what it would take for Singapore to review its stance on the death penalty. SINGAPORE: The Government has to act in the best interest of society by keeping the death penalty, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said on Wednesday (Sep 14), reiterating that its deterrent effect against drug trafficking saves thousands of lives. Mr Shanmugam was speaking in an interview with Bloomberg and was asked what it would take for Singapore to review its stance on the death penalty. The minister replied that more than 65 per cent of Singaporeans support the mandatory death penalty as of last year. "But … what's the task of the Government? It is to do right by Singaporeans, what's in the best interest of society. If we believe, and we do, that the death penalty, in fact, saves thousands of lives, because of its deterrent effect," he said. "And I can show you examples from all the ot...

According to a 2020 ILGA report, homosexuality was prohibited in 69 countries, including 11 where it is punishable by death. Paris — Singapore announced on Sunday that it will repeal a law criminalising gay sex but in many other parts of the world homosexuality is illegal and sometimes subject to the death penalty. According to a report published in 2020 by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), homosexuality was prohibited in 69 countries, including 11 where it is punishable by death. Here is an overview. A crime in Africa Around 30 African countries ban homosexuality, with Mauritania, Somalia and Sudan having the death penalty for same-sex relations. South Africa is the sole nation on the African continent to allow gay marriage, which it legalised in 2006. Gay sex is decriminalised in only a handful of countries: Angola, Lesotho, Mozambique and the Seychelles. Middle East: repressed Several countries in the conservative region still have the ...

Taipei (AFP) – Taiwan's claim to be a regional bastion of human rights is undermined by its retention of capital punishment, activists say as they campaign to exonerate the island's oldest death row prisoner. Wang Xin-fu is among 38 inmates in Taiwan awaiting execution, which is carried out by gunshot and without advance notice once all appeals are exhausted. At 69, Wang is Taiwan's most elderly prisoner on death row and has consistently maintained his innocence. Rights groups led by the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) have launched a campaign to exonerate Wang, arguing he was wrongfully convicted as a joint offender for the murder of a policeman in 1990. Wang had been detained in his youth and classified by Taiwan's then authoritarian government as a "thug". He was sentenced to death for supplying a gun to a "lackey" and ordering him to shoot the victim, based on testimonies from the shooter and witnesses. But activists claim there ...

MANILA, Philippines — Saying the country’s judicial system should first be fixed, presidential aspirant Senator Manny Pacquiao has  changed his tone on the revival of the death penalty, but his stand against same-sex marriage remains the same. “About the death penalty, before, I filed a bill in the Senate. But right now, I’m just holding it. I’m not pushing right now because of the situation of this country,” Pacquiao said in an interview with Vice News Asia Monday. “I don’t want… innocent people [to] be punished by death. So we want to fix first our judicial system in this country and arrange everything and make sure that the government is performing their duty,” he added. Earlier, Pacquiao, a born-again Christian, has pushed for the revival of capital punishment for heinous crimes involving the manufacturing and trafficking of illegal drugs. Same-sex marriage Despite a changed stance on death penalty, Pacquiao remains firm on his stand on same-sex marriage. “Being a Christian, I’...

In Ghana, home to a diverse array of religions, leaders of major churches have united in denouncing homosexuality as a “perversion” and endorsing legislation that would, if enacted, impose some of the harshest anti-LGBTQ policies in Africa. In Nigeria, the umbrella body for Christian churches depicts same-sex relationships as an evil meriting the lengthy prison sentences prescribed under existing law. And in several African countries, bishops aligned with the worldwide United Methodist Church are preparing to join an in-the-works breakaway denomination so they can continue their practice of refusing to recognize same-sex marriage or ordain LGBTQ clergy. In the United States, Western Europe and various other regions, some prominent Protestant churches have advocated for LGBTQ inclusion. With only a few exceptions, this hasn’t happened in Africa, where Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian and Lutheran leaders are among those opposing such inclusion. “The mainstream churches — all of them — ...

The sportsman-turned-politician has retired from boxing to focus on his presidential bid – but will he be punching above his weight? He is one of the greatest boxers of all time, but Manny Pacquiao faces his biggest battle yet as he fights to be president of the Philippines. The 42-year-old is already a controversial political figure thanks to his anti-LGBT remarks and support of the death penalty. Some also have doubts about his competency to lead the country, and have speculated that his retirement from boxing is largely down to a need to mend his poor political reputation. The boxing star has been a senator in the Philippines since 2016 and announced his retirement from his sport on 29 September after 26 years. “I just heard the final bell. Boxing is over,” he said. “I never thought this day would come.” Jean Encinas-Franco, associate professor of political science at the University of the Philippines Diliman, told i that Pacquiao is regarded an “absentee legislator” because he was ...