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2009-04-09 Amnesty International

Taiwan’s legislature has ratified two of the most important international conventions for the development of human rights. On 31 March, the Legislative Yuan debated and ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on 31 March.

"Amnesty International welcomes Taiwan’s ratification of these two covenants, which form the basis of the international human rights framework together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International Asia-Pacific Director.

"Taiwan’s actions present a strong model for the region that economic growth and prosperity can go along hand in hand with increasing respect for human rights."

2009-04-05 Taipei Times

Defendants living with mental illnesses are being let down by a court system that critics say is fundamentally flawed

By Celia Llopis-Jepsen
STAFF REPORTER

IN the early hours of June 5, 2007, a gasoline bomb was thrown into Hua Xin Cleaners (華新洗衣店) in Kaohsiung City’s Zuoying District (左營). Four people in the building died in the ensuing blaze.

Within a week, police had named university lecturer Chen Pei-yuan (陳培元) as a suspect. A month later, Chen was charged with murder and on June 25 last year convicted in his first trial and sentenced to life in prison. The case is now at the Kaohsiung branch of the High Court, where, if found guilty again, he could be sentenced to death.

But prejudice and a flawed judicial system may have resulted in an unfair first conviction, in a case that highlights how the system fails defendants with mental disorders, Chen’s lawyer and anti-death penalty advocates say.

Chen’s attorney, Thomas S.K. Chan (詹順貴), says his client should never have been convicted. He calls the evidence against Chen “far-fetched” and believes he was convicted because he has a history of mental illness and was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

2009-03-27 Mail Online

By Andrew Malone

Death will come soon for Jiang Yong. A corrupt local planning official with a taste for the high life, Yong solicited money from businessmen eager to expand in China's economic boom.

Showering gifts on his mistress, known as Madam Tang, the unmarried official took more than ￠G1 million in bribes from entrepreneurs wanting permission to build skyscrapers on land which had previously been protected from development.

TAEDP編按： 美國新墨西哥州成為全美第十五個廢除死刑的州。新墨西哥州長Bill Richardson於2009年3月15日簽署了一個法案，以終身監禁不得假釋取代死刑。以下的新聞是由Death Penalty Focus所發出。

New Mexico Becomes the 15th State to Eliminate the Death Penalty
Other States Consider Taking Similar Action to Ease Budget Concerns
by Death Penalty Focus March 18, 2009

On March 18, 2009, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson signed H.B. 285, which is a bi-partisan bill that replaces the death penalty with permanent imprisonment.  New Mexico is the fifteenth state to abandon capital punishment and the second state to do so legislatively in the last two years.  New Jersey's legislature passed a similar bill in December 2007.  At least ten other states have considered similar measures this year citing the significant savings that could result from ending the death penalty: Montana, Nebraska, Maryland, Colorado, New Hampshire, and Kansas are among them.  Earlier this year, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley called on his state's legislature to end the death penalty citing both financial and ethical concerns.