The executed inmates were: Chong De-shu, Kuan Chung-yen, Wang Chih-huang, Wang Kuo-hua, and Chuang Tien-chu. This was the second batch of executions in less than a year. Another four prisoners were executed in April 2010. There are now 40 inmates currently on death row in Taiwan. The Ministry of Justice has made assurances in the past that it would only carry out executions with “extreme care” to ensure that prisoners’ rights are protected, but last year it unilaterally changed prison conditions for death row inmates to restrict their letter-writing and family visitation rights.
FIDH and TAHR recall that at the end of January, President Ma Ying-jeou apologized to the family of Mr. Chiang Kuo-ching (江國慶), the soldier who was found to have been wrongfully executed 14 years ago for the rape and murder of a young girl. The President also requested the Ministry of National Defense to clear Chiang’s name and assist his family in obtaining compensation. The hope that this gesture represents political commitment towards abolition has now been completely dashed.
In March 2010, the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) filed petitions on behalf of inmates on death row to the president for pardon. There has yet to be a formal response from the President’s Office when the March 4 executions were carried out. Taiwan has signed and ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and is obliged to guarantee the rights enshrined in the Covenant, including death row inmates’ “right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence” (article 6.4). The absence of a law regulating and guaranteeing the rights for death row inmates to seek pardon undermines such rights.
“By carrying out these executions,” said Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President, “Taiwan violates international and national law.” “Taiwan should join the growing international momentum towards universal abolition, as confirmed by the last resolution of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) calling for a universal moratorium on the use of the death penalty, adopted by 109 States on 21 December 2010. Today, more than two thirds of the countries in the world have abolished the death penalty in law or practice,” added Ms. Belhassen.
Chairperson of Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Lin Chia Fan, also indicated that “it is estimated by the Quinquennial Report of the UN Secretary General on capital punishment that the universal abolition of the death penalty could be achieved soonest in 2015. Taiwan is really in the last batch of the game.” “After three UNGA resolutions calling for a global moratorium,” Mr. Lin added, “it is absurd for the government to assert that carrying more executions is not against the goal towards abolition."