INTERNATIONAL
International week of student
action
Adding thousands of voices
against the death penalty for child offenders
“The act I committed to
put me here was not just heinous, it was senseless. But the person that
committed that act is no longer here. I'm sorry that John Luttig died.
And I'm sorry that it was something in me that caused all of this to
happen to begin with. Tonight, we tell the world that there are no
second chances in the eyes of justice. No one wins tonight. No one gets
closure. No one walks away victorious.”
Final statement of Napoleon
Beazley, child offender, executed in the USA, May 2002.
Thousands of young people and students all over the world will today
start a week of action against the execution of child offenders, those
under 18 years old at the time of the crime.
“Starting over the next seven days, students will add their voices to
tens of thousands of people already calling for an end to this indecent
and internationally illegal practice,” said Amnesty International.
Activists from over 30 countries will carry out a wide range of
actions, from writing letters to government authorities in the USA and
Pakistan to demonstrations in front of embassies, as well as activities
to raise awareness of this shameful practice. In the USA alone, more
than 400 student groups from nearly every state will take part in the
campaign. Global campaign highlights include radio and television
programs in the Netherlands, debates in Tanzanian schools and colleges,
a football tournament in Venezuela, exhibitions and film screenings in
educational institutions in Hong Kong and a conference in a Lebanese
university.
Amnesty International has documented executions of child offenders in
eight countries since 1990: China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United States of America and
Yemen.
Since 2000, 15 executions of child offenders have taken place in the
world. Nine of them were in the USA.
In Iran, Mohammad Mohammadzadeh was executed on 25 January 2004 for a
crime committed when he was 17 years old, even though in December 2003
the Iranian parliament approved a bill to raise the minimum age for
imposition of the death penalty to 18 years. The bill currently awaits
consideration by the country's highest legislative body, the Guardian
Council.
In the USA, the Supreme Court agreed last month to revisit its 1989
ruling allowing the execution of 16- and 17-year-old offenders. Bills to
raise the minimum age to 18 are pending in several US state
legislatures. Despite these developments, four executions of child
offenders remain scheduled to take place in Texas in the first half of
2004.
“The latest developments offer hope that the USA will join the
overwhelming global consensus that such use of the death penalty is
wrong and end the threat of execution looming over more than 70 people
on death row for crimes committed when they were under 18 years old,”
Amnesty International concluded.
Background Information Amnesty International has been campaigning
against the use of the death penalty for 40 years. On 21 January, the
organization launched a two-year action aimed at ending the execution of
child offenders throughout the world by the end of 2005.
For more information on the International's week of student action,
please see: AIUSA Website:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/juveniles/
For more information on Amnesty International's campaign against the
death penalty on child offenders, please see: Amnesty International
Death penalty website: http://web.amnesty.org/pages/deathpenalty-index-eng
Updated Facts and Figures on death penalty against child offenders:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGPOL300072004 Updated Summary of
cases of child offenders:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGPOL300062004
18 February 2004
http://www.web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGPOL300102004
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