Death Penalty News

The communist state has a notorious record of imposing the death penalty 'quickly' and 'in large numbers' with a range of horrible methods used. China's brutal and secretive justice system has been thrust into the spotlight this week as we learned the fate of Australian writer Yang Hengjun , five years after he was arrested and accused of espionage.

Under China's draconian laws, as many as 46 crimes carry the death sentence. The number of people it executes each year is a closely guarded secret, but rights groups estimate it to be in the thousands  Mobile death vans, firing squads, lethal injections: These are all methods used by China to carry out more state-sanctioned executions than all other nations combined.

A May 20, 2023 editorial in a leading medical academic journal concludes that physician participation in executions “goes against the ethical foundation of the physician’s role” and argues that doctors and medical associations should oppose capital punishment.  The editorial in The Lancet describes how many physicians currently participate in executions: Doctors “clinically assess mental competence for execution; physically examine and monitor vital signs before, during, and after execution; and certify death. In extreme cases, physicians take the role of executioner and are implicated in illegal organ procurement from executed prisoners.” 

The death penalty is inhumane and violates the fundamental right to life. Physician involvement enables this continuing abuse of human rights and undermines the four pillars of medical ethics—beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice. “The death penalty is, in our common experience, an atavistic relic from the past that should be shed in the 21st century”, said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk in April, 2023, during the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council. The death penalty has existed since the Code of Hammurabi, with its history seeped in politics and discrimination. Physicians have been involved throughout this history. In the eyes of the public, the medicalisation and very involvement of physicians renders execution palatable, eroding any natural sense of abhorrence. Yet capital punishment is ineffective as a deterrent and morally wrong. At its core, execution is a barbaric practice that goes against the ethical foundation of the physician's rol...

HOUSTON (AP) — An appeals court on Monday stayed this week’s execution of a death row inmate who had raised questions about whether prosecutors had presented false and inaccurate testimony from an expert on whether he would commit more crimes in the future. Ramiro Gonzales, 39, had been set to receive a lethal injection for fatally shooting Bridget Townsend.  Gonzales kidnapped Townsend, who was the girlfriend of his drug dealer, from a Bandera County home in January 2001 after stealing drugs and money. He later took her to his family’s ranch in neighboring Medina County, where he sexually assaulted the 18-year-old before killing her. Her remains weren’t found until nearly two years later. Gonzales’ attorneys had asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to stay his execution, arguing prosecutors presented false testimony that wrongly claimed he would be a future danger, a legal finding needed to impose a death sentence. RELATED |  Texas Death-Row Prisoner Seeks Clemency; Doct...

Texas death-row prisoner Ramiro Gonzales is seeking clemency from Governor Greg Abbott ahead of his scheduled execution date of July 13, 2022.  Gonzales’ clemency petition describes the neglect and abuse he experienced as a child, the misrepresentations presented at his trial, and his rehabilitation and transformation during his time on death row.  The petition also asks that, even if clemency is denied, Gov. Abbott grant Gonzales a reprieve so he can donate one of his kidneys as an act of atonement. The clemency petition and an accompanying video present the story of Gonzales’ upbringing. Born to a 17-year-old mother who rejected him, Gonzales was raised by his grandparents. One of his cousins described Gonzales’ childhood, saying he received “no love and affection,” and that their grandparents provided him only “the bare minimum of what a human being could have to survive.”  Gonzales was sexually abused beginning at the age of six. The one source of love and support in ...

Ramiro Gonzales is scheduled for execution on July 13th for the rape and murder of an 18 year old woman in Medina County in 2001. His attorneys say the idea of Gonzales' donating a kidney began with his correspondence with a Cantor in Maryland who mentioned a congregant at his synagogue needed a donor. Gonzales volunteered. His attorneys have filed several appeals, including one this week to Texas Governor Greg Abbott asking for a 30 day reprieve so Gonzales can be a donor, something that can be granted without a recommendation from the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole. Gonzales' lawyer Thea Posel says the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has a procedure for organ donation by incarcerated people. He was screened and learned he was not a match for that person. "But he does have a pretty rare blood type, and that means he's an excellent candidate for donation as well as someone who could provide this life preserving treatment for someone who's on the waitlist of...

A CANADIAN man is set to join hundreds of shackled inmates on China’s degrading death row as they await agonising lethal injections or firing squads. Robert Schellenberg, believed to be 38, from Abbotsford, British Columbia, was detained by the Chinese authorities for drug smuggling and after a retrial he had been condemned to die. Schellenberg, who maintains his innocence, has been locked up in China since 2014, when he was accused of attempting to smuggle 225kg of methamphetamine to Australia.  In December 2018 he was sentenced to 15 years but after he appealed a retrial was ordered and the Dalian intermediate people’s court instead ordered his execution . It comes as human rights organisation Amnesty International has branded China the world's top executioner. Schellenberg and others facing death are sent to detention centres where they await their fate on death row in tiny overcrowded cells or in solitary confinement. According to the blog Dui Hua, those on death row wait just ...

CHINA has been branded the world's worst executioner as the state kills thousands of people every year using firing squads, lethal injections and mobile death vans. The true numbers of those killed by the Communist Party are thought to be staggeringly high - but the regime keeps them closely concealed as state secrets. Human rights experts told The Sun Online about the vile system which has come into spotlight again after the killing of Chinese tycoon Lai Xiaomin. He was executed last month on corruption charges - as in China even white collar crimes and drugs charges can land on death row. And should you land yourself in the dock be wary, as Chinese prosecutors have a conviction rate of around 99 % as they doom thousands to execution. Firing squads and lethal injections are two favourite methods of execution used by China. Killer jabs were legalised by the regime in the 90s and are sometimes administered in one of the state's mobile "execution vans". Convicts are sai...

PESHAWAR: The provincial government has decided to introduce a legislation to criminalise the rising child organ trade in the province which will be punishable with a death penalty and a Rs2 million fine. By the same token child trafficking is also to be criminalised and a punishment of 25 years of imprisonment has been suggested for the culprits. The draft law has also suggested that if a person is convicted by the court for child molestation and handed down death penalty then the death sentence should be recorded by “audio visual means” and this should be made accessible to public. Parole and probation will not be available to the convicts in case of imprisonment neither will they be able to get any remission. Under the proposed legislation the Khyber-Pakthunkhwa Child Protection and Welfare Act 2010 will be amended. All the homework has been done and the law has been drafted under which the complete record of sexual offenders will be kept who will not be employed by any department d...

The European Union (EU) reiterated its strong opposition to the death penalty in annual human rights talks with Taiwan on Wednesday, as part of an agenda that also included LGBT issues, migrant workers and the rights of Taiwanese arrested abroad. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the third annual Human Rights Consultations were conducted via video conferencing, in what the two sides described in a joint press release as a "friendly, open and constructive atmosphere." Aside from providing updates on their respective policies to advance human rights, the two sides also raised areas of ongoing concern with each other. The EU registered its opposition to an execution carried out by Taiwan on April 1 , and "called on Taiwan to reinstate a de facto moratorium and pursue a policy towards the abolition of the death penalty," the statement said. The EU also encouraged Taiwan to strengthen protections for migrant workers, particularly domestic caregivers and wo...

New Delhi, March 2 (IANS) -- The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a PIL by former Bombay High Court judge Michael Saldanha, seeking directions for donation of organs by four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, saying "death is the saddest part and the organ donation has to be voluntary." A bench headed by Justice R. Banumathi rejecting the petition asked the petitioner to "have human approach". Saldana in the petition contended that the apex court may pass directions to the Tihar jail authorities, where four death row convicts are currently lodged, to give them an option to offer their bodies for medical research and also donate their organs, which could help in saving lives of critically ill people. The top court said, "The execution of a person is the saddest part for the family. You (petitioner) want their body to cut into pieces... have some human approach....organ donation has to be voluntary". The petitioner al...

The plea moved by a retired High Court judge and 2 others also urges for directions to the Government so that the Nirbhaya death row convicts are given the option of organ donation. A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court urging for a direction to allow the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya case the option of donating their organs after their likely execution. The plea has been moved by retired Bombay High Court judge Michel F Saldanha along with Advocate Dilraj Rohit Sequira and the President of Mangalore chapter of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). The petitioners have pointed out that given there is an acute shortage of vital organs in India, not only for donation purposes but also for research. A major reason for the same is the lack of concrete policies regarding organ donation in India, save for it being a voluntary exercise. It is further submitted that these issues could be redressed with by adopting sound policies on organ donation, at l...