 Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, spoke out after Akmal Shaikh, a British national, earlier this week lost his final appeal against the death penalty.
Media reports state that Mr. Shaikh was arrested in 2007 in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in western China after being found to be in possession of four kilograms of heroin. Campaigners have said he suffers from mental illness.
"Both Chinese and international law clearly indicate that a person who committed a crime while suffering from significant mental illness should not be subjected to the death penalty," Mr. Alston said in a statement to the press issued in Geneva.
The Special Rapporteur said China has recently taken "important steps" to ensure that the death penalty is carried out in line with applicable international standards.
"Executing a mentally ill man would be a major step backwards for China and I very much hope that the Government will grant clemency in this case."
He also noted that he had never received a reply to his request in October for the Government to review the decision by Chinese judicial authorities to deny Mr. Shaikh a mental health evaluation.
Mr. Alston, who reports to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, serves in an independent and unpaid capacity.
Source: UN News
Global 
-
The home of Iran's opposition leader, cleric Mehdi Karrubi, has reportedly been attacked by hardliners who tried to enter the house through force. Karrubi's son, Hossein Karrubi, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that Karrubi's security team had to fire shots in the air to disperse the hardliners, who have ... more
-
News & views on RFE/RL's broadcast region RFE/RL in the Media # The Atlantic Council links to RFE/RL reporting on tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia # The "Long War Journal" reposts an RFE/RL video on girls poisoned in Afghanistan # ... more
-
Fresh fires are being reported in Russia. Local media says two people have been killed and at least 10 injured in the blazes near Volgograd and Saratov in southern Russia. more
-
Benedict XVI and the Israeli president call for “an agreement that is respectful of the legitimate aspirations of the two peoples.” They also talked about the results of the bilateral working commission that has worked for years on drafting an agreement to settle economic and tax issues. Both men ... more
-
-
Armed policemen, including masked Special Forces officers, today raided the Moscow office of "The New Times," one of Russia's few prominent opposition-minded media outlets. They pressured the magazine's journalists to hand over interview recordings used in a report on alleged abuses by ... more
-
The oldest independent newspaper in the eastern Belarusian city of Babruisk says it faces bankruptcy and closure because of government interference. more
-
Ordered by Kabul to resign, Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States says that while it's normal for him to step down after so long at the post, he's complained of a "smear campaign" against him in Afghanistan. more
-
There's an interesting post on neweurasia.net by Annasoltan about Turkmenistan banning a popular social-networking site, agent.mail.ru. more
Comments
|
|
RSS