Caption: Notes left at a vigil in Australia as people came together to take a stand against the death penalty. © Amnesty International
By Brad Fagan, Media Intern at Amnesty International.
It may be easy to think at the moment that with so many human rights abuses happening out there, often perpetrated by governments themselves, there is little hope for change.
However, under resounding public pressure, it just may be possible that the hard-line commitment that the Indonesian government has made to the death penalty has shifted just enough for strides to be made.
On Tuesday 11 February when Indonesia’s Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H. Laoly, was asked about the Government’s response to efforts to save those awaiting the death penalty, there was hope the Indonesian administration might re-examine the decision to proceed with the executions due to three small words, “we will see”.
Of course this is not an earth shattering moment in human rights history, but just as the gleefully cheesy quote in the film The Power of One reminds us: “a waterfall begins from only a single drop of water”, these sorts of reminders are perhaps what are sometimes needed when faced with the extraordinary challenge of preventing the lives of ordinary people from being needlessly lost.
Already this year six people have been executed by firing squad in Indonesia, just after midnight on 18 January. Another nine face an immediate and imminent threat of execution after their clemency applications were rejected by the new President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo.
They are Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, Syofial alias Iyen bin Azwar (Indonesian), Harun bin Ajis (Indonesian), Sargawi alias Ali bin Sanusi (Indonesian), Martin Anderson alias Belo (Ghanaian), Zainal Abidin (Indonesian), Raheem Agbaje Salami (Nigerian) and Rodrigo Gularte (Brazilian).
These executions are a chilling reminder of the barbaric ease with which governments all around the world control and can so easily destroy human rights.
While President Widodo promised to make human rights a priority when he took up office, he has failed to do so by scheduling 20 people for execution in 2015. This Government will not face pressure to change its practice on the death penalty unless ordinary people put action into place and pressure the Indonesian government into finally scrapping the death penalty. Indeed we cannot afford to take a “we will see” approach.
The death penalty is a denial of our basic human right to live and has no place in our world. It destroys families, has seen the wrongfully convicted put to death and is not an effective deterrent on crime. The fact that there are currently 64 people on death row in Indonesia for drugs charges is strong evidence of that. It is not a solution. It is an irreversible, violent punishment and it brings no justice.
Margaret Taylor, Amnesty International’s Activism Manager reminds us of New Zealand’s proud history of helping out the little guy, the concept of the fair go and our record for speaking out against the death penalty. She states that “now is the time for (New Zealanders) to be making representations directly to the Indonesian government and calling on them to immediately halt plans to put more people to death.”
Yes these people have committed crimes for which they deserve to see justice for but do they deserve to die? What benefit does this serve? In a 2012 report by independent researchers at America’s National Research Council of the Academies, they found that US States with the death penalty have a similar murder rate to states that don’t use it. The simple fact is the threat of capital punishment does not deter crime.
It is clear that individual pressure is working. The families of these people facing the death penalty as well as the prisoners themselves need the active voices of activists from every corner of the world to lend weight to their pleas for mercy. And after those voices have been raised, we will see.
Help us #keephopealive and take a stand against the death penalty – http://www.amnesty.org.au/adp/comments/36524/
Read More:
http://www.amnesty.org.nz/news/indonesia-first-executions-under-new-president-retrograde-step-rights
http://www.amnesty.org.nz/news/indonesia-new-president-widodo-must-make-good-human-rights-pledges
Generally speaking ; ‘ The death penalty ‘ is an abhorrence . There’s no more a premeditated murder .
Specifically ;
If one were to want stop the trafficking of drugs then make all drugs legal . Make the impact of drugs a health issue, not a criminal justice issue . ( Hear a panicked sharp intake of breath from drug companies , insurance companies , private prisons, cops , lawyers and sundry other drug dysfunction reliant parasites .
Richard Nixon came up with the War on Drugs mantra and that vile little criminal dropped millions of tons of bombs and ordnance on Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia where 70 % dropped remain to kill and maim people to this day .
Stopping fuckers dealing drugs would avoid the death penalty being used
Any Death Penalty is sadistic. The two young men who are to be executed have been lead to believe they’d be allowed to live in Prison. They’ve taken up arts and helped other inmates to cope with problems. This really fits into the belief that Asians are cruel and inhumane. Certainly how they treat animals is despicable. Am I racist? No! The US practices the same torture of keeping inmates on death row for years then executing them. Of course the US is now a 3rd World Country, it treats its less fortunate citizens despicably.
“This really fits into the belief that Asians are cruel and inhumane. Certainly how they treat animals is despicable. Am I racist? No! The US practices the same torture of keeping inmates on death row for years then executing them ”
The idiocy of your racism defense is that the example you use actually exposes your hypocrisy.
Do you have any comprehension at all exactly how many countries, people and vastly differing cultures and levels of civilization you are branding with the cruel and inhumane tag.
It’s similar to using the United States and Russia’s human rights record and making a sweeping statement that all white people are racist and hypocritical (although in your case this is the case).
Small minds have small opinions.
(well let’s face it )
JORGE,
The SO – CALLED “Statue of Liberty” has to be a Joke. (USA JOKE)
Just look at all the UNJUSTIFIED wars by USA on FAR too many countries, (in the name of “Freedom”)..eg Iraque (on false charges)
whilst “USA” themselves practice torture and false imprisonment (ie VIOLATE ALL HUMAN RIGHTS)
AND GET AWAY WITH!!!
Comments are closed.