In response to reports that executions may proceed today: Any executions at this point in time would be illegal

Press Release

March 4, 2011

In response to reports that executions may proceed today:

Any executions at this point in time would be illegal

According to today’s copies of the Liberty Times and United Daily, the Ministry of Justice has stepped up its plans to carry out executions. At the earliest, executions are expected today. The Liberty Times reported that up to five people would be put to death. According to the United Daily, the ministry’s task group on executions met quietly to finalize the list of those to be executed and forwarded at least two execution orders to the Minister of Justice for his signature.

On March 1, the TAEDP responded to Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu’s statement on proceeding with executions. Carrying out any executions at this point in time would violate both domestic law and international human rights law.

Under Article 6, Paragraph 4 of the ICCPR: “Anyone sentenced to death shall have the right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence. Amnesty, pardon or commutation of the sentence of death may be granted in all cases.” This is legally binding in Taiwan. Taiwan passed the ICCPR in 2009 and incorporated it into domestic law the same year (the Act to Implement the ICCPR and ICESCR).

The UN Human Rights Committee has explicitly stated in past decisions that governments must not carry out any executions if the necessary procedures for seeking a pardon are not in place. Taiwan is bound by domestic law to respect the committee’s decisions (Article 3 of the Act to Implement the ICCPR and ICESCR). The government may not currently proceed with executions, as procedures have not yet been set up for seeking pardons. There is no justification for “speeding up” executions before this very consequential problem with our justice system has been resolved.

The Ministry of Justice has said time and again that it will only proceed with executions with “extreme care” to ensure that no rights are being violated. But last year it unilaterally changed prison conditions for death row inmates to restrict their letter-writing rights and visits from family members.

At the same time, if today’s reports are correct, the ministry is allowing its staff to leak news of impending executions to journalists, while the prisoners who will be put to death, their lawyers, their family members, and human rights NGOs are not allowed to know. Where is the justice in denying their families a final chance to see their loved one?

The Ministry of Justice should stop the execution process immediately to avoid violating the ICCPR and Taiwan’s own domestic legislation, lest it make an illegal and irreversible mistake.