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  • China Switching from Gunshots to Lethal Injections
    China, which executes more people each year than any other country, will expand the use of lethal injections instead of gunshots for death sentences, a state-run newspaper reported Thursday. ... China does not officially release capital punishment figures, but it is believed to execute more people each year than the rest of the world combined. Death penalty recipients include some people convicted of nonviolent crimes such as fraud. The human rights monitoring group Amnesty International says China executed at least 1,770 people in 2005 about 80 percent of the world's total. The true number is widely believed to be many times higher, however. (1/2/08, ABC News)
  • UN General Assembly Adopts Landmark Text for Death Penalty Moratorium
    The General Assembly today adopted 54 resolutions and 12 decisions recommended by its Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural), including a landmark text calling for a moratorium on executions to be established in all States that still maintain the death penalty, as well as a resolution strongly condemning rape against women and girls in all its forms, including in conflict situations. The resolution calling for “a moratorium on the death penalty”, was passed by a vote of 104 in favour to 54 against, with 29 abstentions. It called on all States that still allowed capital punishment to “progressively restrict the use of the death penalty and reduce the number of offences for which it may be imposed”. Those countries were also called on to provide the Secretary-General with information on their use of capital punishment and to respect international standards that safeguard the rights of condemned inmates. (12/18/07, United Nations)
  • European Union and World Leaders Mark Day Against the Death Penalty
    Member nations of the European Union and the Council of Europe marked October 10th as "European Day Against the Death Penalty," an action to underscore the continent's firm commitment to ending executions throughout the world. (10/15//07, DPIC Update)
  • Britain Pardons Soldiers Executed in WWI
    Britain's lawmakers Tuesday granted posthumous pardons for soldiers executed during World War I, ending years of campaigning by the families of men condemned to death for cowardice. Around 300 soldiers, who were executed during the 1914-1918 conflict for failing to return to the front lines, were included in the pardon. The government has said it is continuing research to identify other soldiers who were brought before firing squads after only summary trials. ... "(The act) recognizes that execution was not a fate that the servicemen deserved," the Defense Ministry said. (11/7/06, ABC News)
  • France Amends Constitution to Ban the Death Penalty
    The French parliament voted to amend the country's Constitution to include an explicit ban on the death penalty. In a special joint session held at the Palace of Versailles (pictured), France's National Assembly and Senate passed the amendment by a vote of 828-26. The death penalty has been outlawed in France since 1981, but the recently passed amendment officially inscribes the prohibition into the constitution. "We are accomplishing the wish of Victor Hugo in 1848, the pure, simple, irreversible abolition" of the death penalty, former Justice Minister Robert Badinter told lawmakers. (3/12/07, DPIC Update)
  • Japan Lifts Secrecy on Executions
    Japan hanged three murder convicts on death row Friday and for the first time publicly disclosed their names in a new policy that lifts Tokyo's cloak of secrecy surrounding executions. ... One of the few industrialized nations to retain the death penalty, Japan had routinely been criticized by human rights activists for keeping details of its executions secret. Amnesty International lauded the decision to release more information about the convicts, but strongly condemned the executions, which increased the country's total for the year to nine. "Executions were again carried out suddenly, without advance warning to either the convicts or their families," Amnesty said in a statement. "We hope Japan will take steps in the near future to abolish the grave offense that the death penalty is to human rights." (12/7/07, CNN.com)
  • Iraq: Latest Hangings Pose a Dilemma
    BAGHDAD - Iraq's leaders grappled Thursday over the death sentences for three former Saddam Hussein regime heavyweights - including the notorious enforcer known as "Chemical Ali" - amid warnings the hangings could inflame sectarian violence and derail efforts at reconciliation. (10/19/07, The Denver Post)
  • Italian Premier Calls for Worldwide Death Penalty Moratorium
    Italian Premier Romano Prodi called for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty in an address to world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly. Prodi advocated passage of a U.N. moratorium resolution, saying, "If genuine politics means showing foresight, we shall perform a great political act through the adoption of this resolution. It will demonstrate that humankind isn't capable of making progress only in science but also in the field of ethics." (10/1/07, DPIC Update)
  • U.S. Diplomats Told to Compare 9/11 Trials to Nuremberg
    The Bush administration has instructed U.S. diplomats abroad to defend its decision to seek the death penalty for six Guantanamo Bay detainees accused in the Sept. 11 terror attacks by recalling the executions of Nazi war criminals after World War II. ... The decision to seek the death penalty for these defendants is likely to draw criticism from the international community. A number of countries, including U.S. allies, have said they would object to the use of capital punishment for their nationals held at Guantanamo. (2/12/08, Newsday.com)


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