Punishment for crime: Death Penalty, Torture outdated- says Amnesty International
Gilbert Boyefio
24/08/2006
The Country Director of Amnesty International, Ghana, Prize McApreko, has called on Government to abolish both the Death Penalty and the use of torture as punishment for crime and a means of extracting information from suspects respevtively, in Ghana. He said this ought to be done to justify the country's "spectacular? nomination to the UN Human Rights Council.
Speaking in an interview with The Statesman, Mr McApreko said it is about time the nation mustered the courage and political will to abolish the Death Penalty, which has now become unpopular in many nations. In his statement, Mr McApreko declared the Death Penalty an abuse of a person's basic human rights, (that is, the right to live).
Mr McApreko was speaking on the sidelines of a two-day Training of Trainers workshop for journalists organised by the West Africa Human Rights Education Project of Amnesty International, Ghana. The workshop is on the theme "Preventing the Practice of Torture- The Role of the Media", in Accra Tuesday.
He noted that the era where people used the death penalty as a political tool to repress their opponents is long gone and therefore an alternative punitive measure should be found to replace it.
Mr McApreko argues that the practice of the Death Penalty has neither been able to stop the numerous crimes in society nor deterred criminals from carrying out crimes. If anything, it has rather hardened them.
He noted that for the past decade, there are people who have been put on the death row and are still pining away in prisons in a state of anxiety, apprehension and mental torture because their executions have not been carried out. He identified this as a contributory factor to the over-population in the country's prisons.
Mr McApreko said governments neither create nor produce life and therefore should not arrogate to themselves the right to take a person?s life, no matter the circumstance.
He disclosed that Amnesty International was currently in the process of advocating for the sentence of life imprisonment without the option of parole as an alternative to the death penalty.
On the issue of congestion in the prisons arising out of converting death sentences to life imprisonment for hardened criminals, he said the present system where inmates worked to supplement government's allocation to the prison service can be improved upon to the extent that prisoners would be able to feed themselves adequately, and also have surpluses which could be sold to help expand and maintain the prison facilities.
Earlier, addressing participants at the workshop, Frank Doyi, a Lead Facilitator at Amnesty International, listed five elements constituting torture, namely: the nature of the act committed, the degree of its severity, the cruel means used, the purpose of the act and the perpetrator.
The UN Convention defines torture as "Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or of any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incident to lawful sanctions".
He disclosed that Amnesty International's 12- point programme for the prevention of torture condemns the practice of torture in all its forms and circumstance. "If people could have enough patience, a more humane way of addressing the issue could be found," he added.
He said statements extracted under torture should not be used as evidence at the law courts, and journalists should also not use it in their reportage, as it does not present a well balanced view or information. According to him, during such situations, the victim would have suffered pains so severe that he might be willing to say anything to satisfy his interrogators in order to stop further anguish.
Mr Doyi said people who are tortured should be compensated and in situations where they are maimed through the act, should be rehabilitated by the perpetrators or the agency responsible. He described as ambiguous the clause in the constitution that allows the police to use "reasonable force" to enforce an arrest when a culprit is resisting arrest. "Who determines the degree of the reasonable force to be employ by the police," he queried.
He appealed to the media to continually create awareness and sensitise the public on the effects of torture, and also influence and advocate for the effective implementation of all the international and national laws against torture, such as the UN committee against torture, UN special report on torture and the African Charter on Human and Peoples? Rights, to which Ghana is a signatory.
24/08/2006
The Country Director of Amnesty International, Ghana, Prize McApreko, has called on Government to abolish both the Death Penalty and the use of torture as punishment for crime and a means of extracting information from suspects respevtively, in Ghana. He said this ought to be done to justify the country's "spectacular? nomination to the UN Human Rights Council.
Speaking in an interview with The Statesman, Mr McApreko said it is about time the nation mustered the courage and political will to abolish the Death Penalty, which has now become unpopular in many nations. In his statement, Mr McApreko declared the Death Penalty an abuse of a person's basic human rights, (that is, the right to live).
Mr McApreko was speaking on the sidelines of a two-day Training of Trainers workshop for journalists organised by the West Africa Human Rights Education Project of Amnesty International, Ghana. The workshop is on the theme "Preventing the Practice of Torture- The Role of the Media", in Accra Tuesday.
He noted that the era where people used the death penalty as a political tool to repress their opponents is long gone and therefore an alternative punitive measure should be found to replace it.
Mr McApreko argues that the practice of the Death Penalty has neither been able to stop the numerous crimes in society nor deterred criminals from carrying out crimes. If anything, it has rather hardened them.
He noted that for the past decade, there are people who have been put on the death row and are still pining away in prisons in a state of anxiety, apprehension and mental torture because their executions have not been carried out. He identified this as a contributory factor to the over-population in the country's prisons.
Mr McApreko said governments neither create nor produce life and therefore should not arrogate to themselves the right to take a person?s life, no matter the circumstance.
He disclosed that Amnesty International was currently in the process of advocating for the sentence of life imprisonment without the option of parole as an alternative to the death penalty.
On the issue of congestion in the prisons arising out of converting death sentences to life imprisonment for hardened criminals, he said the present system where inmates worked to supplement government's allocation to the prison service can be improved upon to the extent that prisoners would be able to feed themselves adequately, and also have surpluses which could be sold to help expand and maintain the prison facilities.
Earlier, addressing participants at the workshop, Frank Doyi, a Lead Facilitator at Amnesty International, listed five elements constituting torture, namely: the nature of the act committed, the degree of its severity, the cruel means used, the purpose of the act and the perpetrator.
The UN Convention defines torture as "Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or of any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incident to lawful sanctions".
He disclosed that Amnesty International's 12- point programme for the prevention of torture condemns the practice of torture in all its forms and circumstance. "If people could have enough patience, a more humane way of addressing the issue could be found," he added.
He said statements extracted under torture should not be used as evidence at the law courts, and journalists should also not use it in their reportage, as it does not present a well balanced view or information. According to him, during such situations, the victim would have suffered pains so severe that he might be willing to say anything to satisfy his interrogators in order to stop further anguish.
Mr Doyi said people who are tortured should be compensated and in situations where they are maimed through the act, should be rehabilitated by the perpetrators or the agency responsible. He described as ambiguous the clause in the constitution that allows the police to use "reasonable force" to enforce an arrest when a culprit is resisting arrest. "Who determines the degree of the reasonable force to be employ by the police," he queried.
He appealed to the media to continually create awareness and sensitise the public on the effects of torture, and also influence and advocate for the effective implementation of all the international and national laws against torture, such as the UN committee against torture, UN special report on torture and the African Charter on Human and Peoples? Rights, to which Ghana is a signatory.
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