XPost: alt.flame.rednecks, alt.flame.right-wing-conservatives
From: §pam.ßuster@all.com
"Travis" wrote in message news:Xns9F1E650889B
Dfdas@194.177.98.144...
> The state executing its citizens is the purest form of libertarian non-
> government interference into the lives of the people. Communist China and
> radical Islamic shitholes are second only to the USA in the number
> citizens they imprison and execute and all freedom lovers want to be like
> Communist China and radical Islamic shitholes. As a Canadian living in a
> country with out capital punishment and a far lower homicide rate than the
> gun infested USA, I drool at the prospect of Americans being executed just
> as I cheered their deaths during the Iraq war under Bush.
>
> China spearheads surge in state-sponsored executions
>
> Amnesty report condemns 'legalised terror' as number of prisoners killed
> nearly doubles in a year
>
> By Robert Verkaik, Law Editor
> Tuesday, 24 March 2009
>
> Executions of prisoners almost doubled last year – predominantly because
> of the Chinese government – according to a report by Amnesty
> International.
>
> Death sentences handed down by China for crimes including tax evasion and
> bag-snatching represented three-quarters of the 2,390 executions carried
> out around the world, up from 1,252 in 2007. China's resumption of its
> death penalty programme comes after a dip in executions during the lead up
> to the Beijing Olympics that were held last year.
>
> But other countries also showed a renewed commitment to state executions.
> Amnesty said that Iraq, which last year executed at least 34 people, is
> set to put to death another 128 prisoners, reportedly in batches of 20 at
> a time.
>
> Japan executed the highest number of people for more than 30 years and
> Iran killed eight prisoners who were under 18 at the time of the offence.
> A further 8,864 prisoners were sentenced to death in 52 countries.
>
> Human rights groups warned that the figures, the highest in five years,
> are worrying evidence of a political willingness to carry out executions
> in the face of strong international condemnation.
>
> Amnesty International's secretary general, Irene Khan, said that, on
> average, seven prisoners were executed every day last year and that,
> because in some countries state executions were shrouded in secrecy, the
> figures only represented the minimum number of deaths. Amnesty suspects
> that in China the true figure runs into several thousand.
>
> Ms Khan said: "The death penalty is the ultimate inhuman and degrading
> punishment. Beheadings, electrocutions, hangings, lethal injections,
> shootings and stonings have no place in the 21st century. It must be
> brought to an end."
>
> Katherine O'Shea, a spokeswoman for the human rights group Reprieve, said:
> "We are dismayed the dramatic increase in executions worldwide. In the
> course of assisting British nationals on death row around the world, we
> have seen countless miscarriages of justice – particularly for people who
> cannot afford legal fees. Who knows how many more innocent people suffer
> this irreversible injustice every day?"
>
> Amnesty described 13 countries as "hardcore" executioners who had
> implemented death penalties every year for the past five years. These are
> Bangladesh, Belarus, China, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, North Korea, Pakistan,
> Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Vietnam, the USA and Yemen. Methods used include
> beheading, hanging, stoning, lethal injection and electrocution.
>
> But the focus of anti-death penalty campaigning remains targeted on China
> where 1,718 people were executed by lethal injection and firing squad last
> year. In 2007 it was reported that only 470 people were executed.
>
> China revised its criminal law 10 years ago leaving 68 capital crimes on
> its statute books. Although the revised legislation lifted the death
> penalty for ordinary theft, a large number of non-violent economic
> offences remain capital offences. Those include the smuggling of cultural
> relics, precious metals and rare wildlife; counterfeiting currencies;
> fraudulent use of bills; tax fraud and the forgery of VAT invoices.
>
> Chinese prisoners on death row are handcuffed with their feet shackled
> despite the prohibition under international prison standards on leg-irons
> and chains as instruments of restraint. Chinese lawyers also report that
> defendants on capital crime charges are normally brought to interviews at
> the detention centre in chains. In order to ensure that executions do not
> take place in public, the shooting of prisoners increasingly takes place
> within the prison grounds.
>
> China is one of the five countries which accounted for 93 per cent of all
> executions. The other four are Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the USA.
>
> Amnesty said 2008 saw two worrying instances of countries bucking what had
> been a trend towards a reduction in the number of countries and
> jurisdictions still using the death penalty. St Kitts and Nevis carried
> out the first execution in the Caribbean for five years, while Liberia
> introduced capital punishment for robbery, terrorism and hijacking.
>
> There are also concerns on death sentences imposed after unfair trials,
> and expresses concern about the risk of executing the innocent, noting
> that the US released four people from death row last year, taking to 130
> the number of death row "exonerees" since 1973.
>
> Ms Khan said: "The good news is that executions are only carried out by a
> small number of countries. The bad news is that hundreds of people
> continue to be sentenced to death in those that have not yet abolished the
> death penalty."
>
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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