Amnesty urges Taiwan to scrap death penalty

Mar 18, 2010, 15:18 GMT

Taipei - Amnesty International (AI) on Thursday called on Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou to scrap the death penalty, following the resignation of the island's justice minister over the abolition of capital punishment.

'Amnesty International has noted the recent debate on the death penalty sparked by former justice minister Wang Ching-feng's open support for a moratorium on executions and her subsequent resignation, said the letter written by AI secretary general Claudio Cordone. 'We ask you to ensure that Taiwan remains firm in reaching for its stated goal of abolition of the death penalty,' it said.

Amnesty urged the government to stick to earlier assurances that Taiwan's de-facto moratorium would remain in place. 'The lives of the 44 inmates on death row must not be compromised because of the current political controversy,' it said.

Wang resigned last week after causing an uproar by openly backing an abolition of the death penalty.

She vowed that during her term, she would not sign execution orders for the currently 44 death row convicts, and would rather go to hell or be executed in their place.

Her statement stirred a heated debate, and caused trouble for the government, she was accused of sympathizing with criminals, or blamed her for being irrational.

Ma said that while abolishing the death penalty was a global trend, Taiwan needed public consensus. A majority of Taiwanese are opposed to scrapping the death penalty.