– Uganda : Challenging the Death Penalty
– Uzbekistan : Torture and Secrecy
On the occasion of the World Day Against The Death Penalty, the FIDH issues two mission reports relating to the death penalty respectively in Uganda and Uzbekistan.
The first report entitled « Uganda: Challenging the Death Penalty », is the result of a fact-finding mission carried out in Uganda in March 2005 and points to serious violations of international law with respect to the administration of the criminal justice system.
Indeed, the death penalty is provided for crimes that do not have lethal consequences, including a number of military crimes (spreading harmful propaganda, failure to protect war materials, cowardice in action) and the crime of treason.
Moreover, despite its obligation to restrict the number of crimes carrying the death penalty, Uganda has recently extended the death penalty to the crime of terrorism crime, and a Bill relating to aggravated robbery providing for capital punishment is pending before the Parliament.
The FIDH mission noted that most of those sentenced to death are poor and uneducated. As such they are unable to defend themselves, and face a higher risk of miscarriage of justice. Crimes for which they are prosecuted often carry an automatic sentence of death. They are inescapably condemned to be hung.
The second report concerns the death penalty in Uzbekistan ("Torture and Secrecy"). It is the result of a fact-finding mission carried out in March-April 2005, a few days before the bloody events of Andijan.
On August 1, 2005, President Karimov announced, through a presidential decree, that the abolition of the death penalty was planned for January 1, 2008. The FIDH welcomes that decision but deeply regrets that this decree will not enter into force immediately. It does not provide for a moratorium on executions and will not prevent further condemnations to death until January 1, 2008.
The report concludes that the Uzbek authorities are responsible of serious and systematic human rights violations in the framework of the administration of criminal justice.
The rights of those arrested are systematically violated. They often lack any access to a lawyer during their pre-trial detention, their families are not informed and torture is used in order to extort confessions, which often serve as a basis for their condemnation.
Authorities refused to cooperate with the FIDH’s mission. All the official meetings requested by the FIDH were denied. Experts were put « put on their guard» by staff at the Uzbekistan embassy in France threatening that their visas would not be recognised and that they would be turned back at the airport arrivals. The FIDH was not allowed to visit any detention place.
« While we are celebrating today the world day against the death penalty, it is essential to show that the death penalty generally results from unfair procedures, during which defence rights are violated, and the risk of miscarriage of justice is significant », stated Sidiki Kaba, President of the FIDH. He concluded that « on this symbolic day, we welcome the abolition of the death penalty over the last twelve months by Liberia, Mexico and Senegal. We urge States which have still not abolished the death penalty to join the abolitionists’ camp ».
On the occasion of the World Day Against the Death Penalty, the FIDH and its member organizations will organize events in the following cities:
– Bamako (Mali)
– Bujumbura (Burundi)
– Dar es Salam (Tanzania)
– Guatemala City (Guatemala)
– Kampala (Uganda)
– Manille (Philippines)
– N’Djamena (Chad)
– Rabat (Morocco)