International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

The signatory organizations are convinced that the death penalty is incompatible with the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, which is a peremptory norm of international law (jus cogens) and should thus be abolished. The death penalty is only tolerated by international law and standards to the extent that it may only be imposed for the most serious crimes and applied in a way that causes the least possible suffering. However, the signatory organizations believe that from the sentencing to the execution, the death penalty inevitably causes physical harm and psychological suffering amounting to torture or ill-treatments.

The present position paper documents the extent to which international and regional organisation have already recognised a violation of the absolution prohibitionof torture in the application and imposition of the death penalty.

• Document type NGO report / World Coalition
• Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment
• Available languages La peine de mort et l'interdiction de la torture et des peines ou traitements cruels, inhumains ou dégradants

• Document type Array
• Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)
• Themes list Drug Offenses / Fair Trial / Juveniles / Women

The change of administration in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and taking of office by a new president on 3 August 2013 has not brought any change as far as the death penalty is concerned. Between the 14 June presidential election and 1st October, more than 200 people have been reportedly executed, including possibly three people who may have been younger than 18 at the time of the commission of the alleged crimes.Against this backdrop, FIDH and its member organisation, LDDHI, have decided topublish the present report to analyse the new penal laws in force in Iran that are invoked consistently to violate the right to life in general and to execute child offenders. Coinciding with 10 October 2013, World Day against the Death Penalty, this report aimsto serve as an update on the current state of application of the death penalty in the IRI.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)
• Themes list Juveniles, Drug Offences, Hanging, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages مجازﺯاﺍتﺕ اﺍعداﺍمﻡ دﺩرﺭ اﺍﯾﻳراﺍنﻥ - سﯿﻴاست دﺩوﻭلتﯽﻲ اﺍﯾﻳجادﺩ وﻭحشت - وﻭﯾﻳژهﻩ ﯾﻳازﺯدﺩهمﯿﻴن رﺭوﻭزﺯ جهانﯽﻲ ضد مجازﺯاﺍتﺕ اﺍعداﺍمﻡ

In May 2013, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) undertook a fact-finding mission in California and Louisiana to evaluate the death penalty as practiced and experienced in these jurisdictions under a human rights framework. The mission examined whether the death penalty was being applied in a discriminatory manner, and if the conditions on death row met the U.S.’s obligation to prevent and prohibit torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.The mission interviewed death-row prisoners, exonerees and their family members, advocates, legal counsel, and non-governmental organizations in both states, analyzing the information gathered against the backdrop of international human rights law. Based on the interviews conducted and documentary review, the mission concludes that the use of the death penalty in California and Louisiana fails to protect a number of basic rights, rendering the United States in breach of certain fundamental international obligations. Specifically, the mission finds California and Louisiana violate the principle of non-discrimination in the charging, conviction and sentencing of persons to death. Both states treat prisoners condemned to death in a manner that is, at minimum, cruel, inhuman or degrading, and in some cases, constitutes torture.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Mental Illness, Torture, Death Row Conditions, Death Penalty,