On the 24th June 2014 China executed Ngobi Ham Andrew one of the many Ugandans held on death row for drug related offence. This is the second execution of a Ugandan by Chinese government in 2014 and its only one month since the last execution of Omar Ddamulira.
Execution was carried out just a month after
his sentence had been confirmed by the highest court in China with only a five days’
notice issued to his relatives of the intention to execute Ngobi. With a few days’
notice it was impossible for the convict to challenge the legitimacy of his
execution violating his right to appeal the execution.
As a universal trend toward abolition of the
death penalty is overwhelming, China, which retains the death penalty and
carries out executions regularly, is now a peculiar country and becoming more
and more isolated from the international community. Moreover it is 11 years since Uganda’s last
execution, qualifying it a de-facto moratorium and a clear indication of the increasing
respect on the right to life.
The penalty of death is the ultimate
punishment which violates right to life, the most fundamental human right and
whether to exercise the penalty or not can never remain a domestic issue.
Foundation for Human Rights Initiative
strongly condemns these executions and will continue its struggle to abolish
death penalty and to ensure that Ugandans committing offences in retentionist
states are repatriated to serve their sentences in Uganda.
No comments:
Post a Comment