Executions do not violate UN human rights pacts: Ma

President Ma Ying-jeou says executions of death row inmates do not violate the United Nations human rights conventions.

Ma made the remarks on Saturday in response to an NGO pushing for the abolition of death penalty.

Late on Friday Taiwan executed five convicted murderers. It was the country's second use of the death penalty in a year. The last executions in Taiwan took place in April last year, when four men were put to death. There are still 40 inmates remaining on death row.

Amnesty International condemned the executions. It also accused the government of failing to live up to its promise to not carry out capital punishment.

On Saturday Premier Wu Den-yih defended the executions, saying the government's decision was in line with public expectations. Wu said all of the people executed were given the verdict through due process, and none of them was wrongfully put to death. He also said some of them had even asked for a quick execution.

Wu said recent polls showed that more than three quarters of Taiwanese people are against the abolition of death penalty. He also said now is not yet the time to scrap the capital punishment. But Wu said the government would keep communicating with anti-death penalty groups and the public on this issue.


(2011-3-5/RTI)