Stop The Executions In Malaysia For Cannabis

[Jim Finnel]

"The United States and Malaysia share strong trade and investment ties and a commitment to generating prosperity through openness, democracy, and freedom." -- President George W. Bush

Death sentence is passed against a woman
who was immediately executed with three other people.​

Just two weeks ago I posted this article:
Two To Be Hanged For Trafficking Cannabis
Now we see this is happening again:
Malaysia To Hang Another Man For Marijuana

Let them know what you think:
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On 10th December 2007 – to coincide with International Human Rights Day – IHRA’s HR2 (harm reduction and human rights) team released a major report entitled The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: A Violation of International Human Rights Law. The report calls for an end to the use of the death penalty for drug offences around the world, and concludes that the on-going execution of drug offenders is a violation of international human rights law. The report emphasises how the harms faced by people who use drugs do not only include health harms such as HIV and hepatitis C infections, but also the effects of repressive law enforcement activities.

While the number of countries practicing capital punishment has steadily decreased over the past twenty years, the number of countries using the death penalty for drug offences has steadily increased. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) - one of the main UN human rights treaties – states that the death penalty may only be applied to the “most serious crimes”. Both the UN Human Rights Committee and the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions have stated that drug offences do not constitute “most serious crimes” - making executions for such offences a violation of international human rights law.
Source

The notices generally appear as brief blips on the news wires, or perhaps as one-paragraph summaries in the international sections of newspapers: "Iran Hangs Three for Smuggling," "Vietnam Sentences 12 to Death for Drugs," "Malaysia to Execute Man For Five Pounds of Cannabis." The notices may be brief, but there is a steady drumbeat of them. In just the past week came news that Iran had handed over the body of a Pakistani man executed for drug trafficking and that Malaysia had sentenced a bill collector to death for drug trafficking.

The report, The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: A Violation of International Human Rights Law, authored by IHRA analyst Rick Lines, finds that some 32 countries have drug offense death penalty provisions on their books, mostly in North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. While the death penalty is typically reserved for drug sales, trafficking, or manufacture, that is not always the case, and in some countries, mere possession can warrant a death sentence.

The number of people executed for drug offenses easily runs into the hundreds, perhaps even more, each year. In the last month, Vietnam alone has sentenced more than 40 people to death for drug offenses, while from Iran comes a steady drumbeat of notices from the state news agency that another trafficker or two or three has been hanged. China has been known to hold mass public executions of drug offenders, while in Singapore, dozens of drug offenders face the executioner each year.

Still, the exact number of executions is unknowable. That's because countries either do not provide details on the number of executions or do not provide breakdowns of why people were executed.

"Because some countries -- China, for instance -- do not release details of the number of executions they carry out each year, it is impossible to arrive at an accurate yearly total of drug war executions," said Lines. "While we can't arrive at an accurate number, suffice it to say that in some countries, as detailed in the report, drug offenders constitute a significant percentage of all executions each year, so this is a major issue in some countries."

Those killings violate international human rights law, the report argues. While international law does not ban capital punishment, it does limit it in significant ways. The report notes that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights says the death penalty may be applied only for the "most serious crimes." Both the UN Human Rights Committee and the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions have found that drug offenses do not constitute "most serious crimes," which makes executing drug offenders a violation of international law.

"Capital punishment for drug offences is but one illustration of how human rights have been sacrificed in the name of the 'war on drugs,'" said Professor Gerry Stimson, the IHRA's executive director. "Unfortunately, the death penalty is not the only example of such abuses worldwide. Repressive law enforcement practices, the denial of health services to drug users and the spread of HIV infection among people who inject drugs, due to lack of access to harm reduction programs, are far too common in many countries across the globe."

While the IHRA is working all these issues, it is now preparing to bring the death penalty issue to the forefront as part of a broader campaign to tie harm reduction and human rights together. "This report is the first research report from our new HR2 -- harm reduction and human rights -- program, and one of our main emphases in this new program is research and advocacy on human rights issues related to drug policy and human rights abuses against people who use drugs," said Lines. "The death penalty is an obvious issue in that regard, and an important one to highlight with our first publication. This is part of a broader campaign, and we will be using the research in various ways to highlight the issue at the international level in 2008."

The emerging campaign against the death penalty for drug offenders is part of a broader effort to bring more attention to human rights abuses against people involved with drugs, said Lines. "Both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have been very supportive of our work on this issue and have provided important advice and information along the way," he said. "This is an important link for us. We hope the issue of the death penalty for drugs is one that might be used to raise the issue of human rights abuses and drug policy more generally within the mainstream human rights movement."

IHRA will be working with human rights groups as well as its international network of regional harm reduction groups to put the issue in the spotlight this year. In the US, that means groups like the Harm Reduction Coalition will be joining the fight.

"Our general feeling is that the more repressive the legal environment, the less room for implementing harm reduction measures around HIV prevention, overdose prevention, and related issues," said Daniel Raymond, the coalition's policy director, "We see a direct correlation in places like Thailand," he said.

The Harm Reduction Coalition has already been working the issue to a limited degree and plans to do more, Raymond said. "We've done a little work around China and its tendency to celebrate the international day against drugs by executing people, and we've been involved in the discussions between the IHRA and the regional harm reduction networks on this," he said. "We will be involved again as this campaign begins to gear up. We're very interested in pressure to bear and in bringing the harm reduction community in the US into this issue."

Lines said it is time to act. "As I did the research for this report, I was surprised how little attention this issue has received, despite the fact that executions for drug offenses clearly violate international law. There was much less literature on the topic than I assumed there would be when I started," he noted. "I was also surprised to see that while the worldwide trend is clearly toward the abolition of the capital punishment -- the number of countries with the death penalty has steadily decreased over the past 20 years -- at the same time, the number of countries with laws allowing the death penalty for drugs has increased," Lines continued. "That's completely opposite to the general trend away from capital punishment. I think this is an issue where we can almost empirically measure the negative effects of the war on drugs on human rights."

The campaign against the death penalty for drug offenses got a boost last month when the UN General Assembly called for a moratorium on the death penalty for all offenses. Now, the IHRA, its regional network, and mainstream human rights organizations are ready to bring on the pressure.

"We will begin to initiate more direct lobbying and campaigning this year," Lines promised. "I can't go into any more detail at the moment, but you have not heard the last from us on this issue."
from Drug War Chronicle, Issue #518, 1/11/08

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Fact Sheet
Bureau of Public Affairs
Washington, DC
July 26, 2006

The United States and Malaysia share wide-ranging interests and strong people-to-people ties. We are building an even stronger economic partnership through our Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations.

Malaysia’s Regional and Global Role

Malaysia currently chairs the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and the Non-Aligned Movement.

Malaysia responded quickly to neighboring East Timor’s distress and over 700 Malaysian military and police personnel are now helping maintain calm in East Timor.

Malaysia is facilitating negotiations between the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and is a leading contributor to the Aceh Monitoring Mission.

A Robust Economic Partnership

Malaysia is the United States’ 10th-largest trading partner. Two-way bilateral trade totaled $44 billion in 2005 -- 60% more than U.S. trade with India.

The United States is the largest foreign investor in Malaysia, with American companies active in the energy, electronics and manufacturing sectors.

A successful U.S.-Malaysia Free Trade Agreement will benefit both countries.

A Strong Security Partner

Malaysian leaders have taken a strong stance against terrorism and the United States is working closely with the Malaysian Government to fight this global scourge.

Malaysia hosts the Southeast Asia Regional Center for Counterterrorism (SEARCCT), where over 1,100 officials from around the region have received training. The United States is the largest provider of training courses at SEARCCT.

The United States and Malaysia share a strong military-to-military relationship with numerous exchanges, training, joint exercises and visits.

Malaysia recently cemented its nonproliferation commitment by signing the International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol and has sent observers to Proliferation Security Initiative exercises.