In Bahrain, Pope speaks out against death penalty and discrimination
Sakhir, Bahrain Reuters Pope Francis spoke against the death penalty on Thursday at the start of a trip to Bahrain where the Shi’ite Muslim opposition accuse the Sunni monarchy of overseeing human rights abuses and families of death row inmates had sought help from the pontiff. The visit, only the second by a Pope to […]
Updated: Texas executes inmate who fought prayer, touch rules
Updated: 4:10pm (AEST)Houston, US AP A Texas death row inmate whose case redefined the role of spiritual advisers in death chambers nationwide was executed Wednesday, despite the efforts of a district attorney to stop his lethal injection. John Henry Ramirez, 38, was executed at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was convicted of killing 46-year-old […]
Essay: Fifty years after landmark death penalty case, Supreme Court’s ruling continues to guide execution debate
In an article first published on The Conversation, US scholar AUSTIN SARAT looks at the issue of capital punishment in the US…
Presbyterian Church in America votes to leave National Association of Evangelicals
United StatesRNS Commissioners for the Presbyterian Church in America approved a motion to leave the National Association of Evangelicals on Wednesday at the PCA’s General Assembly in Birmingham, Alabama. It’s the third time in the past decade the theologically conservative Presbyterian denomination has considered a measure to leave the association, an umbrella organisation of 40 […]
Executions, trial procedures in Iran of deep concern, says UN
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters Top UN officials voiced deep concern on Tuesday about human rights violations in Iran amid reports of rising numbers of executions, including of minors and Afghan migrants for drug-related offences. They spoke as an annual report on human rights in Iran, authored by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, was presented to the UN Human Rights […]
Pleas for help as Myanmar awaits high-profile executions
Reuters The wife of pro-democracy figure Kyaw Min Yu, sentenced to be executed on the orders of Myanmar’s ruling generals, says that if her husband dies he will take with him the beliefs he has carried throughout a life spent fighting dictatorship. Kyaw Min Yu, better known as Jimmy, and former lawmaker and hip-hop artist […]
Myanmar junta calls return of executions “required action”
Reuters Myanmar ruling military on Thursday defended a planned execution of two prominent democracy figures as lawful and required, defying international criticism for resuming capital punishment after a three-decade hiatus. The United Nations, France, the United States and international human rights groups have urged the junta not to follow through with the execution of activist […]
Facing international criticism, Singapore defends Malaysian’s execution
Singapore Reuters Singapore authorities late on Wednesday defended a decision to execute a Malaysian drug trafficker, in response to international criticism over their use of the death penalty. Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, 34, had been convicted of smuggling at least 42 grams of heroin into Singapore, which has among the world’s harshest narcotics laws. He was hanged […]
Vatican archbishop to bring Pope Francis’ take on being pro-life to the United States
Vatican City RNS Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, who heads the Vatican’s thinktank on life issues, arrived in New York on Monday hoping to disarm Americans’ well-defended positions on the topic by talking about what it means to be pro-life in the Catholic Church today. “Sometimes, in the United States, but not only there, the pro-life perspective […]
US Supreme Court says states must allow prayer, touch in executions
Washington DCAP The US Supreme Court said Thursday that states must accommodate the wishes of death row inmates who want to have their pastors pray aloud and even touch them during their executions. The court ruled in the case of a Texas inmate, John Henry Ramirez, who challenged state rules that would have forced his pastor […]