INDEX

On 27 March, a US federal appeals court overturned Mumia Abu-Jamal’s death sentence, but not his conviction for murder. His lead counsel Robert R. Bryan gives his reaction to the ruling and the next steps in America’s most high-profile capital case.

The report of the Paris World Congress, organised by Together Against the Death Penalty with the help of the World Coalition in Paris in 2007, is just out. Its aim is to serve as a “guide to abolitionist strategy”.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty calls on President Mahmoud Abbas to declare an official moratorium on the death penalty and not to ratify Mr Tha’er Rmailat’s death sentence.

The World Coalition condemns the April 16th decision of the United States Supreme Court upholding the lethal injection as a humane method of executing a human being.

Amnesty International’s early figures for last year show that China tops the executioners’ list, although secrecy surrounds the real death penalty statistics in many countries.

The World Coalition condemns the acceleration of executions in Japan andt the continued secrecy surrounding them.

French organisation Together Against the Death Penalty seized the opportunity of the Olympic Torch relay in Paris to highlight China’s world record when it comes to executions.

The Tunisian Coalition Against the Death Penalty has launched a campaign combining support for an abolition bill and reaction to the sentencing of a man sentenced for terrorism.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), a Gaza-based NGO and a member of the World Coalition, organised two meetings on the death penalty in March.

A conference held near Naples, Italy last month helped around 200 attendees, most of them secondary school students, understand the death penalty situation in the US and relate it to prison issues in their own country.