Stop transplant tourism: surgeon

A leading Israeli surgeon has called on patients in his country to stop travelling to China for transplant surgery.

Dr Jacob Lavee, director of the heart transplant unit at the Sheba Medical Center, said 90 percent of transplant organs in China had been taken from executed prisoners without consent.

According to a 29 October report on the Israeli news website Ynetnews, Dr Lavee described transplants performed in China as "crimes against humanity" in a special survey published in the medical journal Harefua.

The rate of organ donation is very low in Israel, up to half the rate in Europe and the United States.

About half of Israeli patients on waiting lists travel overseas for surgery as a result of the shortage of available organs. Most travel to China.

Dr Lavee said: "It goes without saying that the distress of patients in Israel waiting for transplants is great, but one's distress doesn't justify committing a crime on another."

The Harefua article quoted a Chinese doctor who sought political refuge in the United States.

Dr Wang Guayoki testified before a House of Representatives committee that he had removed skin and corneas from more than 100 executed prisoners in China.

He said the prisoners were given an injection to prevent their blood from clotting and perserve their organs. They were then shot in the head, with medical staff waiting to remove the organs for transplant.

'Thriving trade'
In September, an undercover BBC investigation found a "thriving trade" in organs from executed prisoners.

One hospital in Tianjin told a BBC correspondent it could supply a transplant liver at a cost of £50,000 (US$94,400). The chief surgeon confirmed that the organ could come from an executed prisoner.

The BBC said China's foreign ministry admitted in March that organs from prisoners were used in transplants, but claimed this occurred only in "very few cases".

One official told the BBC that prisoners donated their organs as a "present to society".

Related stories:
China restricts organs from executions -- 29 March, 2006

China, death penalty, executed prisoners, human rights, law reform, organ transplant

Viet Nam death penalty "not deterring drugs"

A Vietnamese parliamentary commission has admitted the death penalty is failing to deter drug crime, despite the large number of people executed for drug-related offences each year.

Thanh Nien News reported on 3 November that the National Assembly's Legal Commission also favoured reducing the number of crimes that attract the death penalty.

Legal Commission vice director Tran The Vuong said it acknowledged the deterrent effect of the death penalty was "not so significant".

"Though there have been a lot of death sentences for drug-related offenses, the number of drug criminals has increased," Tran The Vuong said on the fringes of the assembly's winter session.

"It would be more effective to discover and punish ringleaders," Tran The Vuong said.

According to the report by Thanh Nien News, about 100 people are executed by firing squad each year, most for drug-related offences.

The report said many people executed for drug offences were merely couriers who transported drugs because of their situation or in ignorance of the law.

Tran The Vuong said the commission favoured a reduction in the number of crimes carrying the death penalty, although he would not specify which crimes would remain capital offences.

"It is a major issue that needs thorough study," he said.

Proposed changes
Viet Nam amended its Criminal Code in 2000, reducing the number of capital offences from 44 to 29.

It was reported in February 2006 that the Ministry of Public Security proposed a further reduction from 29 to 20 offences.

A spokesperson for the judicial department of the Ministry of Public Security said a reduction would be "in tune with the general tendency around the world, which Vietnam should follow".

Amnesty International said the proposal, which was submitted to the judicial reform commission for consideration, "reportedly recommends that economic crimes such as fraud and embezzlement, smuggling, counterfeiting and bribery should no longer be capital offences".

Viet Nam has continued to sentence people to death for non-violent economic crimes, despite the view of UN human rights experts that "the death penalty should be eliminated for crimes such as economic crimes and drug-related offences".

In February 2006, state media reported on proposals to change the method of execution, replacing firing squads with lethal injection.

A Police Ministry study reportedly said lethal injection would "minimise the psychological difficulties for executioners".

Related stories:
Another Australian spared in Viet Nam – 19 November, 2006
Viet Nam: Take action against the death penalty -- 24 June, 2006
Viet Nam easing the executioner's burden -- 26 February, 2006
To begin, good news in Viet Nam -- 18 February, 2006

death penalty, deterrence, drug trade, drugs, human rights, Viet Nam, Vietnam

Mirza Tahir Hussain: Safe, free and home

UK national Mirza Tahir Hussain has returned home from Pakistan following President Pervez Musharaff's decision to commute his death sentence.

Hussain had endured three trials, two death sentences, four stays of execution and eighteen years in prison.

President Musharaff commuted the sentence to life imprisonment on Wednesday 15 October. A life sentence in Pakistan usually means a minimum term of 14 years in prison, making him immediately eligible for release. He was freed on Friday and he flew out for the UK the same day.

Hussain was scheduled to hang after 31 December, when a fourth stay of execution was due to expire.

After his family received confirmation of the decision, his brother Amjad said: "I welcome the news and I'm grateful to President Musharraf that he has taken this decision on humanitarian grounds.

"We are near the finishing line. At last, this 18 years of nightmare appears to be coming to an end."

Amjad Hussain said his brother would need time to recover and adjust after his years of imprisonment.

"There will be help and there will be counselling, he will have the best he can get.

"He needs to catch up on all the news that he's missed, the world has moved on and he's been living a life of standstill for the last 18 years," he said.

The BBC News website quoted a statement read on Mirza Hussein's behalf after his release: "It has been a tremendous strain to be separated from my family and loved ones.

"Freedom is a great gift. I want to use this freedom to get to know my family again, to adjust back to living here and to come to terms with my ordeal.

"My thoughts remain with all the prisoners I have left behind."

Under the shadow
Hussain was convicted of murdering taxi driver Jamshed Khan who died in Punjab Province on 17 December 1988. He had always claimed he was physically and sexually assaulted at gunpoint by the taxi driver, and the gun went off in the struggle that followed.

He was first sentenced to death in 1989, later reduced to life, before being acquitted of all charges in 1996. His case was then referred to the religious Federal Shariat Court and in 1998 he was sentenced to death for robbery involving murder, despite the Court's acknowledgement that no robbery was involved.

One of the three judges in his sharia court trial found that police had "fabricated evidence in a shameless manner".

The taxi driver's family later rejected an offer of blood money under Islamic law and insisted that the death sentence be carried out.

Amnesty International (AI), along with other organisations, argued he was convicted after an unfair trial and said "under no circumstances" should the sentence be upheld.

President Musharaff rejected a mercy petition, and he said in October that he did not have the power to override the judgement of a sharia court. But campaigners pointed out that article 45 of the constitution gave him the power to commute "any sentence passed by any court".

Later reports suggested the president was looking for legal grounds to commute the sentence.

UK campaign
Amjad Hussain led a strong campaign for clemency across the UK, including Amnesty International UK, the Muslim Council of Britain and the Catholic Church. Amjad reportedly gave up his job as a computer scientist to lead the campaign for his brother's freedom.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair intervened on Hussain's behalf, and Prince Charles made a direct appeal for mercy following an official meeting with President Musharaff in Islamabad on 30 October.

Related stories:
Pakistan: Fourth reprieve for Mirza Hussain -- 22 October, 2006
Call for abolition: Pakistan columnist -- 17 October, 2006
Pakistan: Thousands in "brutal" system – 12 October, 2006
Pakistan: Hanging delayed, but how long? -- 03 October, 2006
UK pressure over Pakistan hanging -- 01 October, 2006

Pakistan, Mirza Tahir Hussain, Amjad Hussain, death row

Another Australian spared in Viet Nam

A fifth Australian national has been spared execution in Viet Nam, rewarding Australian government appeals and its co-operation in joint drug operations.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer announced this week that the death sentence against Trinh Huu, 53, had been commuted to life imprisonment.

He said Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet commuted Trinh's death sentence following diplomatic representations from the Australian government.

As in previous cases, the Vietnamese government cited humanitarian grounds and their country's good relationship with Australia as reasons for the decision.

Trinh was sentenced to death in December last year for trafficking about 2 kilograms of heroin. He was arrested near the Vietnam-Cambodia border in December 2004.

The Age newspaper reported in February this year that Trinh was arrested by Vietnamese police working with the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

A spokesperson for Justice Minister Chris Ellison confirmed that Trinh's arrest "was the result of co-operation between Australian and Vietnamese authorities regarding a large drug syndicate".

The AFP has been criticised for its co-operation with Indonesian police, following the April 2005 arrest of a group of Australian citizens known as the "Bali 9". The AFP provided crucial information that led to the monitoring, arrest and prosecution of the group for trying to smuggle 8.3 kilograms of heroin to Australia.

Six members of the Bali 9 have been sentenced to death for drug smuggling offences.

Clemency for foreign nationals

Viet Nam has only executed one foreign national since 1975, when it shot a Canadian woman of Vietnamese origin, Nguyen Thi Hiep, on 25 April 1999.

Five Australians have had their death sentences commuted in Viet Nam since 2003. In all five cases the Australian government made strong representations to the government of Viet Nam appealing for the sentences to be commuted.

In February 2006 President Tran Duc Luong commuted the death sentences of two Australians to life imprisonment, citing "humane tradition" and the good bilateral relationship between Australia and Viet Nam. He spared convicted heroin smugglers Mai Cong Thanh, an Australian citizen, and Nguyen Van Chinh, an Australian permanent resident.

The death sentence against Tran Van Thanh, convicted of heroin trafficking, was commuted to life in prison in August 2005 on the basis of humanitarian grounds and the strong relationship between Viet Nam and Australia.

Le My Linh, a 43-year old Sydney woman, was granted presidential clemency in July 2003 following appeals from the Australian government. The president again cited humanitarian grounds when commuting her sentence to life in prison.

Vietnamese citizens have not been so lucky. According to Amnesty International, there were 21 known executions in 2005 and at least 65 people sentenced to death, but "the real number is believed to be much higher".

Related stories:
World Day call for Australian leadership -- 10 October, 2006
UN: Australia should tackle drugs penalty -- 29 September, 2006
Australia's double standards under pressure -- 13 September, 2006
Firing squad for six of Bali nine -- 10 September, 2006
Australian police & the firing squad -- 19 February, 2006
To begin, good news in Viet Nam -- 18 February, 2006

death penalty, Vietnam, Viet Nam, human rights, drugs, drug trade

China: Judges try to limit death penalty

China's most senior judges have urged courts to restrain their use of the death sentences in criminal cases, the latest sign the government is attempting to reign in the country's massive use of the death penalty.

Chinese legal experts estimate between 8,000 and 10,000 people are executed each year, following trials that human rights organisations describe as routinely unfair.

On 31 October, the Chinese government introduced reforms requiring the Supreme People's Court to review all death sentences handed down by provincial courts. The new measure will take effect from 1 January 2007.

According to the Xinhua newsagency, Xiao Yang, the President of the Supreme People's Court, urged courts to exercise "extreme caution" when handing down death sentences and said that every judgement should "stand the test of time".

"In cases where the judge has legal leeway to decide whether to order death, he should always choose not to do so," Xiao Yang said.

The death sentence should be reserved for only an "extremely small number" of serious offenders, he said.

Xiao Yang also said a death sentence should not generally be given to a convict who surrendered to police, or who helped police solve crimes.

"Judges should be very cautious, as if walking on thin ice, when it comes to the death penalty. They should ensure the facts and the evidence are all clear and the verdict is issued in accordance with law," Xiao Yang said.

The vice president of the Supreme People's Court, Jiang Xingchang, stressed that appeals against death sentences should be heard in open court, and courts should record appeals on video-tape.

Related stories:
China reforms good, but not enough -- 08 November, 2006
China: Supreme Court review from January -- 01 November, 2006
China to video death penalty appeals -- 28 May 2006
China to retain death penalty, with reforms -- 13 Mar 2006

China death penalty, law reform, death penalty, human rights

China reforms good, but not enough

Human rights groups have welcomed reforms to the death penalty in China, but say the changes fail to address the unfair trials, secrecy and widespread use that characterise the country's death penalty system.

The Chinese government passed new legislation last week reinstating a single national process of review for all death sentences. From 1 January 2007, the Supreme People's Court will review all death sentences handed down by provincial courts.

Amnesty International (AI) said the changes were "welcome" but people facing the death penalty would still be unlikely to receive fair trials. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the reforms would not be effective if China did not disclose how many people were executed each year.

"This new legislation will possibly help improve the quality of trials for those facing the death penalty in China - and may also reduce the number of executions," said Purna Sen, AI's Asia-Pacific Programme Director.

"But there is a danger that it could also further entrench the death penalty system in China, unless it is accompanied by other measures, including full transparency on the use of the death penalty nationwide and a reduction in the number of crimes punishable by death," Purna Sen said.

Around 68 crimes attract the death penalty in China, including non-violent offences such as tax fraud, embezzling state property and accepting bribes.

Sophie Richardson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said: "Unless the government discloses how many people it executes each year, the reform isn't meaningful."

"Hiding the numbers might save the government embarrassment, but this is not acceptable. Without releasing basic public information such as the overall number of executions, the type of crime that led to the sentence, and basic data about the executed, meaningful penal reform still has not been achieved," she said.

Both organisations agreed that the reforms did not go far enough, and would not address the serious human rights violations in the use of the death penalty in China.

AI expressed fears that, even with the new process of review, "those facing the death penalty are unlikely to receive a fair trial in line with international human rights standards".

"Trials in China are generally marked by a lack of prompt access to lawyers, lack of presumption of innocence, political interference in the judiciary and the failure to exclude evidence extracted under torture," AI said.

Sophie Richardson from HRW said: "Having a higher court review death penalty sentences is a good first step, but much more needs to be done."

"The government must also work to ensure that courts are independent and that defendants have adequate legal representation. Otherwise, this reform will signal only very limited progress," she said.

Related story:
China: Supreme Court review from January -- 01 November, 2006

China death penalty, law reform, death penalty, human rights

Singapore: Took Leng How hanged

Breaking news

The Singapore government this morning hanged Malaysian man Took Leng How. He had been convicted of the October 2004 murder of an eight year-old girl.

A report by Malaysia's national newsagency Bernama said his body was later released to family members, according to a prison official.

President S.R.Nathan's Principal Secretary wrote to defence lawyers at the beginning of last week, informing them an application for clemency had been rejected. He said the president had consulted with the Cabinet and decided the death sentence would stand.

Last week Took was visited in prison by his wife, 24, and their 3 year-old son.

Prisoners sentenced to death in Singapore are often executed within two weeks of the rejection of their application for presidential clemency.

Australian national Van Tuong Nguyen was executed for drug trafficking on 2 December 2005, six weeks after the announcement that his bid for clemency had been turned down. The hanging was carried out despite numerous appeals from the Australian government, widespread protest in the Australian community and appeals from two Popes.

The timing of today's execution suggests the Singapore government may have been attempting to minimise the level of protest at the imminent hanging. Members of Took's family had collected the signatures of more than 34,000 Singaporeans on a petition appealing for clemency.
Related story:
Singapore: Took Leng How facing gallows -- 27 October, 2006

Singapore, death penalty, execution, Asia death penalty

China: Supreme Court review from January

All death sentences handed down in China will be reviewed by the Supreme People's Court from 1 January 2007, a move senior judges have claimed will help prevent wrongful convictions.

A standing committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislative body, yesterday amended the law on the country's courts, requiring all death penalties handed down by provincial courts to be reviewed by the SPC.

China is the world's leader in executions, with an estimated toll of between 8,000 and 10,000 executions each year, although the true figure is a closely guarded 'state secret'.

Chinese government newsagency Xinhua said yesterday's amendments were "believed to be the most important reform on capital punishment in China in more than 20 years".

The China Daily newspaper described the move as "a major step to safeguard human rights".

Appeal and review
The amendment to the Organic Law on the People's Courts separates an appeal against a conviction from the new process reviewing the appropriateness of the sentence.

SPC president Xiao Yang said a convicted person would appeal the verdict to provincial courts, but the SPC would be required to review and ratify all death sentences handed out.

According to Xinhua, Xiao described the change as "an important procedural step to prevent wrongful convictions".

"It will also give the defendants in death sentence cases one more chance to have their opinions heard," Xiao said.

China Daily reported before the standing committee vote that the proposed review would apply only to death sentences handed down in provincial courts.

The report said the revision submitted to the committee stated: "Cases in which the death sentence has been issued should be submitted to the Supreme People's Court for approval except in those cases in which the judgments were issued by the Supreme People's Court itself."

After increasing criticism
The amendments introducing SPC review of capital cases come after intense – and rare – public criticism of miscarriages of justice in China's court system in recent years.

Official media have permitted at times angry discussion of high-profile murder cases, where police had used torture to secure confessions but the 'murder victim' appeared alive after their alleged killer had been executed.

Human rights organisations have long criticised provincial courts of political interference, corruption and poorly trained judges.

Even official newsagency Xinhua acknowledged yesterday that "the practice of provincial courts handling both death sentence appeals and conducting final reviews began to encounter increasing criticism in recent years for causing miscarriages of justice".

"Since 2005, China's media have exposed a series of errors in death sentence cases and criticized courts for lack of caution in meting out capital punishment," Xinhua said.

BBC NEWS said Jerome Cohen, a US expert on China's legal system, called the move to Supreme Court review a "step in the right direction", which he said showed that senior members of the judiciary were increasingly concerned by the use of the death penalty.

He said the legal system required further fundamental reform of death penalty legislation to change the way capital cases were tried and appealed.

Courts preparing
China's courts have taken a number of steps this year that the government has claimed would reform the handling of capital cases.

Through 2006 the SPC has been preparing for the introduction of the review process, establishing three new criminal tribunals and recruiting and training new judges.

In February 2006, Xiao Yang announced that after July all appeals against death sentences would be heard in open court, replacing the previous practice of closed-door judicial review of capital cases.

Related stories:
Political questions over China's new appeal judges -- 02 Jul 2006
China to video death penalty appeals -- 28 May 2006
China: Death penalty cases will soon be reviewed -- 09 Apr 2006
China to retain death penalty, with reforms -- 13 Mar 2006
Open courts to hear China’s death row appeals -- 26 Feb 2006
China acknowledges death penalty abolition trend -- 13 Mar 2006
China's world record - 8000 dead? -- 28 Feb 2006

China death penalty, law reform, death penalty

Stand up for Internet freedom

Many governments are working to close down freedom of expression on the Internet, often with the help of Internet companies that built their names (and fortunes) on the free exchange of information.

Websites are blocked, search engines reigned in, discussions monitored, and journalists, bloggers and activists are arrested for exchanging information online.

Amnesty International and The Observer newspaper have created the irrepressible.info campaign, to defend freedom of expression on the Internet and put pressure on those same governments and companies.

Sign the irrepressible.info pledge
You would not be able to read this blog without freedom of the Internet. Many people around the world won't be able to read it at all, or they may not be safe if they do.

I encourage you to join Amnesty International's campaign and sign the pledge on Internet freedom.

The pledge puts it simply: "People have the right to seek and receive information and to express their peaceful beliefs online without fear or interference."

Growing repression online
The irrepressible.info website points out that "efforts to try and control the Internet are growing".

"Internet repression is reported in countries like China, Vietnam, Tunisia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria. People are persecuted and imprisoned simply for criticising their government, calling for democracy and greater press freedom, or exposing human rights abuses, online."

The campaign notes the complicity -- and active involvement -- of IT companies that "have helped build the systems that enable surveillance and censorship to take place".

"Yahoo! have supplied email users’ private data to the Chinese authorities, helping to facilitate cases of wrongful imprisonment. Microsoft and Google have both complied with government demands to actively censor Chinese users of their services.

"Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right. It is one of the most precious of all rights. We should fight to protect it.

The future of (freedom on) the Internet
Amnesty International is campaigning ahead of the UN's Internet Governance Forum (IGF) on the future of the Internet, in Athens this week.

Steve Ballinger, part of Amnesty International’s IGF delegation, said: "We bring with us to the Internet Governance Forum the voices of thousands of people who share our concerns and who have supported Amnesty's irrepressible.info campaign.

"We are calling on governments to release prisoners who are held just for expressing their peaceful views online, and to stop unwarranted censorship of internet sites and searches."

Singapore: Took Leng How facing gallows

A Malaysian man convicted of murdering an eight year-old girl may be hanged within two weeks, following the rejection of his final appeal for clemency by the Singapore President.

Took Leng How, 24, was convicted of murdering Chinese national Huang Na at the Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre in October 2004. He was sentenced to death in August 2005.

The Court of Appeal upheld his death sentence in January this year, in a split two-one decision.

S.R.Nathan's Principal Secretary wrote to defence lawyer Subhas Anandan earlier this week, informing him the President had considered the application and consulted with the Cabinet, but the death sentence would stand.

Singapore is thought to have the highest execution rate in the world, per head of its population.

In a report in Singapore newspaper TodayOnline, Mr Subhas described the news as "crushing".

He said defence lawyers had hoped the split decision of the court of appeal, and a psychiatrist's opinion that Took was mentally disturbed, would be taken into account.

"I thought we had a chance," said Mr Subhas, who said Took would not be surprised by the news. "The last time I saw him, he said it doesn't really matter [if clemency was refused]."

According to Channel NewsAsia, Subhas Anandan said: "We thought he had hope because there was a dissenting judgement and at least one senior psychiatrist has said that he was suffering from diminished responsibility."

TodayOnline reported that Took's parents in Penang were distraught when another defence lawyer, Chung Ping Shen, told them the news.

His sobbing mother Loo Swee Heow spoke to the newspaper on the phone.

"We thought he had a chance and we have been telling him everything is going to be okay," she said. "Why couldn't he be pardoned?"

His father was too upset to speak to reporters.

Grounds for clemency
The clemency application had asked the President to take into account the views of the dissenting judge in the Court of Appeal, who had questioned if Took had killed the girl by smothering her.

Justice Kan Ting Chiu found that Took should instead be convicted of the less serious charge of voluntarily causing hurt, which carried a maximum sentence of one year's jail, a $1,000 fine or both.

Following the rejection of his appeal, Took Leng How was the subject of an extraordinary campaign on the streets of Singapore. Members of his family collected more than 34,000 signatures from Singaporeans on a petition appealing for clemency.

Earlier stories - Singapore:
Nigeria won't act to save man in Singapore -- 01 September 2006
Singapore forum against death penalty -- 21 August 2006
Trade undisturbed by Singapore execution -- 04 July 2006
Victoria criticises Singapore death penalty -- 17 April 2006

Pakistan: Fourth reprieve for Mirza Hussain

Mirza Tahir Hussain was given a fourth stay of execution on 19 October, apparently to prevent cancellation of a state visit to the country by Prince Charles.

The UK citizen was scheduled to be hanged on 1 November, three days after Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall arrive in Pakistan.

President Pervez Musharraf issued the stay of execution, which delays the hanging until at least 31 December.

According to UK newspaper The Independent, there were "unconfirmed reports from Pakistan that President Pervez Musharraf has appointed a legal counsel to re-examine the case and consider the possibility of a pardon for Hussain".

UK's The Times newspaper quoted a senior Pakistani official as saying: "We are considering the case on humanitarian grounds. Initially, a two-month stay order is being given for his execution. In the meantime the Government will try to find a permanent solution to this issue."

A Pakistani cabinet minister reportedly told the Associated Press that the President was consulting legal experts and Islamic scholars to find a way to "permanently settle this matter".

The minister told AP there was " a possibility that he [Hussain] would be pardoned. God willing, we will find some solution."

The latest reprieve comes after Prince Charles raised the case directly with President Musharraf.

"The Prince of Wales has been concerned about this case for some time and had raised it with the Prime Minister of Pakistan," said a spokesman quoted in UK newspaper The Telegraph.

According to another report, the Pakistan Government has angrily denied the reprieve was a result of pressure from the UK.

"It has nothing to do with what the British leadership has to say. There was no pressure and I have said earlier that we do not accept ultimatums from anybody," a spokesman said.

Related stories:
Call for abolition: Pakistan columnist -- 17 October, 2006
Pakistan: Thousands in "brutal" system – 12 October, 2006
Pakistan: Hanging delayed, but how long? -- 03 October, 2006
UK pressure over Pakistan hanging -- 01 October, 2006

Call for abolition: Pakistan columnist

A Pakistani political columnist has called for the abolition of the death penalty and an immediate pardon for Mirza Tahir Hussain.

Mushir Anwar, writing in the PakTribune online news service, said Hussain's case "invites civil society's attention to reconsider the issue of death penalty in the light of the ethical problem it poses".

Hussain is set to be hanged on 1 November, at the end of Ramadan, after an unfair trial process and 18 years in jail.

In his column "Abolishing death penalty", Mushir Anwar argued that the way an execution was carried out could be "described as premeditated murder in cold blood on the part of the state".

"The argument that the state is only killing a person who has killed another fellow being is an unethical justification and does not absolve the state of the wrongdoing it commits that in its own eyes is a punishable crime," he wrote.

"Secondly, execution of a killer by the state is an act of revenge which is unbecoming of the state which is supposed to be the noblest and the highest of human institutions. Revenge is universally regarded as mean and ignoble while forgiveness is universally held to be divine."

'Compassion under Islam'
He said abolition of the death penalty was consistent with the principles of Islam, which called for compassion over revenge.

"In Islam, particularly, compassion is held superior to justice. In fact, the predilection of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) is for compassion and forgiveness.

"A Muslim society should embody the Prophet’s compassion and Allah’s mercifulness, His benevolence and boundless clemency in its laws."

Mushir Anwar argued that abolition in Pakistan would promote a good image for Islam and set a positive example for other Islamic countries.

"We, who hanker so much after our good image and want Islam to be known as a humane system of life, can give the Muslim world a lead by abolishing the crude and vengeful penalty of death from our statute books altogether," he wrote

"A life term with hard labour in the service of society should be the highest punishment. It gives the criminal the chance to reform and regain the goodness Allah created him with."

Pardon Mirza call
He said Mirza Tahir Hussain “has already paid heavily for his crime [and] should be pardoned by the president without any further delay. Let not a good act wait if it is to be done."

He concluded his column with the words for President Musharaff: "You have the law on your side. Use it."

Related stories:
Pakistan: Thousands in "brutal" system – 12 October, 2006
Pakistan: Hanging delayed, but how long? -- 03 October, 2006
UK pressure over Pakistan hanging -- 01 October, 2006

Pakistan: Thousands in "brutal" system

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) reported in early August that more than 7,400 men and 36 women are being held on death row waiting to be hanged.

The HRCP singled out Punjab as particularly "brutal", saying that 37 people were hanged in that province alone between January and late July.

It said this figure compared with 52 people hanged in the whole country last year.

About a tenth of Punjab's 53,000 prisoners are facing death, according to the IRIN News report, with many held in cells that measured about 10 square metres. The HRCP said the cells were built for a single prisoner but they were often used to house ten.

The HRCP said the prisoners were held in 81 jails across the country. Some prisoners had been held in these conditions for as long as ten years.

Rao Abid Hameed, from the HRCP's Vulnerable Prisoners Project, told IRIN News that people under sentence of death did not receive the same rights as other prisoners.

"They are very restricted in terms of time for exercise and access to other facilities available to other jail inmates," Hameed said.

Brutalised society
HRCP director IA Rehman told the BBC News website that the increase in hangings could be a result of government efforts to reduce overcrowding in prisons.

"The sad fact is that the increased number of executions have not really raised eyebrows or generated many public complaints," he said.

"Pakistan has become a brutalised society where people are exposed to killings on an almost daily basis."

Vendetta not justice
IA Rehman said many people had been executed as a result of "feudal vendettas" and not a fair justice system.

"The tragedy is that many people who have been hanged or are on death row have not received fair trials," he said.

"They are often the victims of feudal vendettas that take place in parts of Pakistan on a regular basis.

"Furthermore they are often convicted by courts or judicial tribunals which are not impartial and where police evidence is insufficient."

He said while some prisoners could wait as long as 15 years before they were hanged or had their sentence commuted, political cases were often finalised much sooner.

"In contrast people accused of terrorist offences - such as attempting to kill the president or a senior member of the establishment - can be sentenced and hanged within two years," he said.

International attention
The use of the death penalty in Pakistan has received international attention in recent months, with the planned execution of UK national Mirza Tahir Hussain.

Hussain, 36, was convicted of murder following what human rights groups have described as an unfair trial.

His execution has been delayed until after Ramadan, and President Pervez Musharraf has refused to intervene in the case.

HRCP figures indicate the following executions have been carried out in Pakistan in the past four years:

2003: 18 people
2004: 15 people
2005: 52 people
2006: 41 people (to late July)

Related stories:
Pakistan: Hanging delayed, but how long? -- 03 October, 2006
UK pressure over Pakistan hanging -- 01 October, 2006

New voice against Asia's executions

A new Asian coalition against the death penalty will be launched today in Seoul, South Korea, on the fourth World Day Against the Death Penalty.

Amnesty International (AI) announced that the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) will be launched at events and activities across the region, including South Korea, where a parliamentary bill to abolish the death penalty is currently being considered.

The formation of ADPAN is a significant step in building a regional movement against the death penalty in Asia.

Asia is the world's leading region for executions and it is home to some of the most active death penalty systems, in countries like China, Viet Nam and Singapore.

Activists in Asia are also dealing with issues such as the secrecy of many death penalty systems around the region, the widespread use of unfair trials in capital cases and the growing use of the death penalty for drug-related offences.

An AI statement for the World Day said: "The network of activists, NGOs, civil society groups and lawyers from many countries across the region -- including India, Singapore and Japan -- aims to draw attention to the inequities and unfairness inherent in the administration of the death penalty by appealing on individual cases and campaigning to support national and regional initiatives to end capital punishment."

The organisation said the Asian region had "bucked the worldwide trend to abolish the death penalty", but it was working with ADPAN "to urge Asia Pacific countries to abolish the death penalty".

AI warned that "even periods without executions can quickly and apparently easily be ended – as seen in Indonesia where a state firing squad executed three men in September 2006 after fifteen months with no known executions".

"Asian countries that have taken a lead on the death penalty include the Philippines, which abolished the death penalty in June.

"ADPAN will campaign for other countries in Asia to make real their pronouncements to respect human rights, through the protection of the most fundamental right of all: the right to life," the AI statement said.

World Day events in Australia

Amnesty International Australia has organised events and individual activities for the World Day Against the Death Penalty, including:

• Sydney - 5:30pm - "Australia and the death penalty" forum, speakers: Lex Lasry QC, Dr Michael Fullilove (The Lowy Institute for International Policy), Michael Walton (NSW Council of Civil Liberties)
• Brisbane - 5:30pm - lantern procession through the city streets, ending at the Old Windmill on Wickham Terrace, where people were hanged in 1841
• Melbourne - 6:00pm - 8:00pm - candle-lit vigil against the death penalty in Federation Square; participants are urged to dress in black and white and bring a candle
• Cairns - 6:00pm - Cairns residents are screening the film ‘Too Flawed to Fix’ at James Cook University, Cairns Campus.

For further information, please see AI Australia's World Day pages.