INDEX

After one year of encouraging signals from Belarus, the last European country with the death penalty has brutally resumed secretive executions and the harassment of abolitionist activists.

Amnesty International has released its report on the death penalty in the world in 2009. The organisation has decided to exclude China from its calculation due to the lack of transparency on capital punishment in that country.

The American death row inmate heard the news less than one hour before he was scheduled to die. From Huntsville to Paris, activists demand that new evidence be examined.

After Taiwan’s justice minister was forced to step down for not signing execution warrants, local and international abolitionists rushed in to restore a balanced debate and protect the country’s 44 death row inmates.

A wide variety of abolitionist actors gathered in Geneva between February 24-26 for the 4th World Congress Against the Death Penalty. After three days of working sessions, the participants called on abolitionist states and internatinonal institutions to support their efforts.

The US, Iran, China and Japan hold a strategic cultural or geographic position, but the road to abolition remains blocked in those countries.

Five African icons in the struggle against the death penalty joined together to debate the transition from a moratorium on executions to full legal abolition.

Caroline Muchuma, contributor to the round table on the vital role played by lawyers in defending those sentenced to death, describing her role as a lawyer and campaigner in Uganda.

Wen-Yu Weng (19), a student and debating coach from Thailand who attended the World Congress workshop on educational strategies, thinks young teenagers are mature enough to understand the death penalty debate – just like she did.

The teenage nephews of an American death row inmate started an anti-death penalty organization that has grown into a pillar of the Texas abolitionist community.