Mississippi: Faith leaders call to end death penalty

Leaders of Muslim, Jewish and Christian congregations gathered Thursday at the Capitol to call for an end to the death penalty in Mississippi.

Death penalty supporter Ann Pace of Jackson, meanwhile, held pictures of her daughter, who she said died at the hands of a serial killer.

The main point of contention between the Mississippi Religious Leadership Conference and Pace is whether the death penalty effectively deters crime, but the issue also hinges on inequity in the criminal justice system and religious principles.

“We face the real possibility of three state-sanctioned executions within the next month,” said the Episcopal Rev. Carol Borne Spencer. “The organization thus felt that the time was now for us to ask our state leaders to find new ways to deal with one of the largest societal dilemmas of our time, that is how to deal with heinous criminal actions of murder and violence and still hold people accountable in ways that do not require the killing of a person."

On Wednesday, the Mississippi Supreme Court set execution dates for 2 convicted killers, and Attorney General Jim Hood has requested an execution date for a 3rd.

The religious conference, which grew out of the 1960s civil rights movement, asked Thursday for crime victim support. But members said executions only create new victims — the families of executed criminals. Isolating criminals is better than condemning them to death, members said.

Pace, whose daughter Murray Pace was slain by reputed south Louisiana serial killer Derrick Todd Lee in May 2002, disagrees.

Lee, 43, sits on death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola for Pace’s murder. Murray was killed at the age of 22, 1 week after graduating with an MBA from Louisiana State University.

Lee is suspected of killing 7 south Louisiana women between 1998 and 2003, but Pace said he has not yet been put to death because Louisiana state law allows too many appeals.

“Even though the case is a DNA case, his DNA in 7 murders, and it’s been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court twice, Louisiana still provides for a system called post-conviction relief that can go on for years and years and years, and it made sense before forensic science. It does not make sense now,” said Pace.

She cited a series of studies in the early 2000s finding that each execution prevents between 3 and 18 slayings. The studies have been widely disseminated by pro-death penalty advocates but widely criticized for technical and conceptual errors by those who oppose execution.

“I am here for those three to 18 additional victims,” Pace said. “I think abolishing the death penalty is idealistic, sounds good, feels good to support, but it does not protect life, it does not protect us, and I think our most important moral obligation in our life is to protect ourselves, our children, and our community, and I think that the death penalty does in fact do that."

In addition to the debate over deterrence, the Capitol press conference brought up issues of social equality and faith.

Okolo Rashid of Jackson's International Museum of Muslim Cultures signed the MRLC's call for a moratorium. She said her faith would allow her to support the death penalty if the system did not disproportionately execute black men.

Another MRLC member invoked the symbolism of the Christian day of Good Friday, which marks the day Jesus Christ was crucified.

“We know that Jesus Christ would not want the death penalty for anyone, having suffered himself at the hands of the state,” said the Catholic Bishop Joseph N. Latino of Jackson.

Set to be executed May 10 is Benny Joe Stevens, now 52, who was sentenced to death in 1999 for killing his ex-wife and her husband, his 11-year-old son and his son's 10-year-old friend.

Meanwhile, state officials have set a May 17 execution date for Rodney Gray, now 38, who was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1994 rape and murder of 79-year-old Grace Blackwell of Louin. Blackwell, who had last been seen withdrawing a large amount of money from her bank, was found shot multiple times in Newton County.

Robert Simon Jr. was sentenced to death for the killings of 3 members of a Quitman County family, but his attorneys say a fall has rendered him incompetent for execution. Hood had earlier asked for an April 20 execution date.

Source: Associated Press, April 23, 2011

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Connecticut's Religious Leaders Say End the Death Penalty

Dozens of Religious Leaders Rally in Hartford to Advocate the Abolition of Connecticut's Capital Punishment Law

Calling it the just and moral thing to do, dozens of religious leaders from the state’s Christian and Jewish communities gathered at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford Tuesday to petition the General Assembly to repeal Connecticut’s death penalty law.

“There are times where sometimes we have theological debates about things in which we disagree, however when it comes to the death penalty this is one item that members of major denominations agree, there is consensus that the death penalty should be abolished,” said State Rep. Bruce Morris, D-Norwalk, who also serves as a minister and emceed Tuesday’s proceedings.

The religious leaders presented Morris and State Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, D-New Haven, with a letter signed by more than 300 clergy supporting passage of House Bill 5036, a bill introduced by Holder-Winfield that would abolish Connecticut’s death penalty. Speakers advocated replacing the state’s capital punishment law with a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of release for the state’s most violent convicted murderers.

“As people of faith, we reaffirm our opposition to the death penalty and belief in the sacredness of human life,” the letter stated. “We urge you, our elected officials, to examine the reality of Connecticut’s death penalty and seek ways to achieve true healing for those who suffer because of violent crime. Please support repeal of the death penalty. It is time for Connecticut to move beyond this broken and harmful system.”

Speakers argued that the death penalty was an “ineffective, unfair and fallible” response to violent crimes.

“The death penalty applies disproportionately to the poor and minorities and puts innocent lives at risk of execution,” Morris said. “Since 1973, 138 individuals sentenced to death were later exonerated of their crimes. When a human life is at stake, there’s simply no room for error.”

James Curry, a Bishop from the Episcopal Church, said that he has spoken to the victims of many families who feel that the death penalty only adds to their pain and suffering, because of lengthy trials and appeals and the notoriety associated with the cases.

“By abolishing the death penalty, we in Connecticut have an opportunity to affirm and respect our dignity as a society,” Curry said. “…Life imprisonment without possibility of release is a punishment that can respect the needs of a victim’s family for closure in the legal process, it can respect their needs for justice, and it can respect the memory of all their loved ones.”

Peter Rosazza, a Bishop from the Connecticut Catholic Conference, said that the Catholic Church opposes the death penalty because it violates the sanctity of life.

“Human life is a gift from god that must be respected from conception to natural death,” Rosazza said. “Our profound respect for human life also explains why we are opposed to any attack against human life, including abortion and euthanasia.”

Rosazza noted that Connecticut was the last state in New England to abolish slavery, adding “we hope it is not the last state to abolish the death penalty.”

Rabbi Donna Berman said that the death penalty went against the Jewish tradition and was not an effective deterrent.

“Even in ancient times there were those who felt that capital punishment was a deterrent to crime, but they represented the minority opinion,” Berman said. “In our own day, studies show that capital punishment is in fact not a deterrent. The truth is we can deter crime and protect society just as effectively, more effectively, with life imprisonment without the possibility of release. In this way we can avoid the very real risk of taking an innocent life.”

The death penalty has always been a hot button issue in Connecticut, but has risen in prominence the past several years due to a brutal 2007 Cheshire home invasion. Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, were sexually assaulted and murdered in their home after a failed robbery attempt. One man, Steven Hayes, 47, was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to death, while another, Joshua Komisarjevsky, is currently on trial for the crime. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Komisarjevsky.

Both houses of the legislature approved a bill to veto the death penalty in 2009, but then governor vetoed the bill, citing the Cheshire home invasion.

Holder-Winfield said he expected the General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee to vote on the current bill within a week. He said he expected the bill to pass, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to sign it into law.

“The work that I’m doing on the death penalty comes out of both my religious faith and my sense for justice,” Holder-Winfield said.

During his campaign, Malloy, a former federal prosecutor, repeatedly stated he was opposed to the death penalty.

In the most recent Quinnipiac University Poll on the subject, released March 10, 67 percent of Connecticut residents said they supported the death penalty, compared to 28 percent who said they opposed it.

The event was originally intended to be held on the steps of the state capitol, but was moved indoors because of the weather.

Source: Montville Patch, April 6, 2011

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Catholic Bishops Urge Illinois Governor to Sign Bill Ending Death Penalty

WASHINGTON (March 3, 2011)—Signing a bill to end the use of the death penalty would “begin building a culture of life in our country,” said the bishop who oversees the domestic justice efforts of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in a letter to the governor of Illinois.

In his March 3 letter, Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton, California, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, joined the bishops of Illinois in urging Governor Pat Quinn to sign SB 3539, a bill that would end the use of the death penalty in Illinois and provide funds for training for law enforcement and services for families of murder victims.

“I hope and pray that you will take this essential step by signing SB 3539 and further Illinois’ leadership role in turning away from the death penalty with all its moral problems and issues of fairness and justice,” wrote Bishop Blaire.

Bishop Blaire also cited the opposition of both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II to the death penalty and quoted the 2005 statement of the U.S. bishops, A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death: “Even when people deny the dignity of others, we must still recognize that their dignity is a gift from God and is not something that is earned or lost through their behavior. Respect for life applies to all, even the perpetrators of terrible acts. Punishment should be consistent with the demands of justice and with respect for human life and dignity.”

The full text of Bishop Blaire’s letter follows:

Dear Governor Quinn:

On behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, I join the Catholic bishops of Illinois and urge you to sign SB 3539, which would end the use of the death penalty in Illinois and provide funds for training for law enforcement and services to families of murder victims.

Pope Benedict XVI and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, have called for the end to the use of the death penalty as a sign of greater respect for all human life. In A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death, the Catholic bishops of the United States wrote “Even when people deny the dignity of others, we must still recognize that their dignity is a gift from God and is not something that is earned or lost through their behavior. Respect for life applies to all, even the perpetrators of terrible acts. Punishment should be consistent with the demands of justice and with respect for human life and dignity.” The legislation before you would help to begin building a culture of life in our country.

I hope and pray that you will take this essential step by signing SB 3539 and further Illinois’ leadership role in turning away from the death penalty with all its moral problems and issues of fairness and justice.

Sincerely,

Most Rev. Stephen E. Blaire

Bishop of Stockton

Chairman, USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development

Source: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, March 3, 2011

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Pakistan's Minister for Minorities has been shot dead in the capital Islamabad.

Shahbaz Bhatti had been calling for changes to Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws, which can impose the death penalty.

He was travelling to work through a residential district when his vehicle was sprayed with bullets, the BBC reports.

The police say the assailants sprayed at least 25 bullets into the car, in broad daylight.

Following the killing, Christians gathered in the city of Multan to protest against the assassination.

Tyres were set alight and protesters chanted slogans.

Earlier this year, the governor of Punjab province Salmaan Taseer was killed by a bodyguard who said he was angry that the politician opposed the laws.

Source: Radio New Zealand, March 3, 2011 (local time)

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Afghan Officials Say Jailed Convert Is Free

Under international pressure, government officials in Kabul, Afghanistan, say they have freed an Afghan man who had been jailed since May and faced the prospect of the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity.

The release of the man, Sayed Mussa, 46, follows months of quiet diplomacy between the Afghan government and United States Embassy officials in Kabul, who along with members of Congress and other foreign embassies had sought the former aid worker's release.

Mr. Mussa, a married father of six who worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross before his arrest, was released Monday from Kabul Detention Center after prosecutors determined there was insufficient evidence to go forward with the case, said Gen. Qayoum Khan, the detention center director. But there were conflicting accounts about the terms of his release. A senior prosecutor involved in the case, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he was released only after agreeing to return to Islam.

It was also not immediately clear where he was taken or if he even remains in the country. Some of his relatives, including his wife, said they had not heard from him.

An embassy spokeswoman would not confirm his release and declined to talk about the case, saying only that the embassy continued to monitor Mr. Mussa's case and others like it.

General Khan said Mr. Mussa was released Monday and turned over to the attorney general's office.

"We got a letter from the attorney general's office which said we do not have any proof against this man and his detention needs to be removed," General Khan said. The attorney general's office did not return phone calls Thursday.

Mr. Mussa was arrested last May after a television station in Kabul broadcast images that it claimed showed Westerners baptizing Afghans and other Afghans praying at private Christian meetings. The broadcast stoked fears of proselytizing brought on by the influx of foreigners since the American-led invasion in 2001. Some lawmakers have publicly declared that converts should die.

A senior prosecutor closely involved with the case, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said last month that the government was under heavy international pressure to release Mr. Mussa. But how to release him without upsetting hard-line conservatives in the government and among the public was presenting a challenge, the prosecutor said.

On Thursday, however, the same prosecutor said Mr. Mussa was released only after finally agreeing to return to Islam.

"Mr. Mussa said in front of everyone in high court that 'I made a mistake converting to Christianity and I want to return back to Islam,' " he said, adding that "we worked with Mr. Mussa for a long time to convince him to return back to Islam."

The prosecutor said he did not know Mr. Mussa's current location.

Mr. Mussa was one of at least two Afghans being held in cases that underscore the contradictions and limits of religious freedom in Afghanistan nine years after the end of the Taliban's rigid Islamic rule. The other, Shoaib Assadullah Musawi, who has been jailed in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif since November after being accused of giving the New Testament to a friend, is still being held, a court official said.

Afghanistan's Constitution, established in 2004, guarantees that people are "free to exercise their faith." But it also leaves it open for the courts to rely on Shariah, or Islamic law, on issues like conversion. Under some interpretations of Shariah, leaving Islam is considered apostasy, an offense punishable by death.

Mr. Mussa's cousin-in-law, Said Yaseen Hashimi, said he visited Mr. Mussa at the jail on Monday but when he returned the next day he was told Mr. Mussa had been released the night before.

In a phone interview from Pakistan, Mr. Mussa's wife, whose full name is not being used out of concern for her safety, said she had not heard from her husband and did not know if he had been released.

"I am very concerned about him," she said. "I don't know how he might have spent the time in prison in this cold winter season. Even if he is released I don't know where he might be now. Or maybe he is in one of the foreign embassies for protection."

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 25, 2011

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EU tells Uganda to protect gays

David Kato

The European Parliament has urged Uganda to decriminalise homosexuality and protect gays and lesbians after a prominent gay rights activist was murdered last month.

The 27-nation assembly adopted a resolution on Thursday calling on Ugandan authorities to conduct an in-depth investigation into the murder of David Kato and probe individuals who publicly called for his killing.

It urged Uganda to ensure gays and lesbians "are adequately protected against violence, and to take prompt action against all threats or hate speech likely to incite violence, discrimination or hostility towards them".

The call came on the same day that a leaked US embassy cable on WikiLeaks revealed that Kato was mocked at a UN-backed debate on Uganda's anti-homosexuality bill where a member of the Uganda Human Rights Commission "openly joked and snickered" with the supporters of the bill.

According to the cable, the debate in December 2009 was organised with funding from the UN and sought to discuss a controversial bill seeking to impose the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality" for consenting adults who have gay sex.

A US diplomat quoted in the cable said Kato delivered a well-written speech against the bill introduced by a born-again MP, David Bahati, but his words were almost inaudible due to "his evident nervousness".

Homophobia in Uganda runs deep and ministers and pastors often rail against gays and lesbians, accusing them of importing and adopting "rotten" Western culture.

Kato's murder on January 26 triggered a wave of condemnation from rights groups who criticised Uganda for ignoring the plight of gay people in the country and urged authorities to investigate the murder.

Although the Ugandan police have since arrested a suspect in connection with Kato's murder, they insist his death was a not a consequence of his gay activism.

The suspect is a male prostitute who confessed to murdering Kato after he reneged on an agreement to pay for sex, police say.

Last year, Kato was named and pictured by an anti-gay tabloid called Rolling Stone in a story that carried the headline "Hang Them" in reference to gay rights campaigners.

The people who appeared in the tabloid are "now in genuine danger of being persecuted, are in most cases now homeless, unemployed and forced to avoid public places, and must hide from public view," the parliament resolution said.

Source: Al Jazeera, Feb. 18, 2011

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Texas: More than 90 Faith Leaders Call for Clemency for Timothy Adams

Timothy Adams

Today more than 90 Christian faith leaders from communities throughout Texas called on the Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor Rick Perry to grant clemency to Timothy Adams. Adams is scheduled to be executed by the State of Texas on February 22, 2011. His family, who is also the family of the victim, Timothy Jr., has asked for mercy, noting that an execution will do nothing to repair the loss and anguish they have experienced since the time of the crime.

TCADP is deeply grateful to all of the faith leaders who joined this call for mercy. We also wish to express our appreciation to Bishop Joe Wilson and Sister Elizabeth Riebschlaeger for their participation in today’s press conference to release the letter.

For Immediate Release: February 16, 2011 Religious Leaders from Across Texas Join Victim Family Members at State Capitol to Urge for Clemency, Saying Crime was an Aberration in Veteran’s Life

3 Jurors Also Supporting Clemency for Timothy Adams

(Austin, Texas, Wednesday, February 16, 2011) Today, in the largest outpouring of faith leader support in a Texas death penalty case in recent years, a group of 91 prominent religious leaders from across the state called on the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor Rick Perry to grant clemency to Timothy Adams. Mr. Adams is an army veteran with no criminal history, not even an arrest, prior to the tragedy where he killed his son while planning his own suicide in 2002. His execution is scheduled for Tuesday, February 22.

Faith leaders from 8 Christian denominations and from within the Unitarian Universalist community, including Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza of the Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston; Reverend Raymundo J. Pena, Bishop Emeritus of the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville; Bishop Michael Rinehart, TX-LA Gulf Coast Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Reverend Bobbi Kaye Jones, Austin District Superintendent of the United Methodist Church; and Doctor Joe S. Ratliff, Pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church, the largest African-American church in Houston, announced their support for clemency in a letter that was delivered to state officials this morning.

In their letter to the parole board and the Governor, they state: “We join the victim’s family in asking that you spare Mr. Adams from death. You have an extraordinary opportunity to show mercy to a family that has already suffered greatly and to uphold the sacredness of human life. We pray that you grant life to Timothy Adams.”

Several of the faith leaders, including Bishop Joe Wilson of the United Methodist Church and former Bishop to the Central Texas Conference, Sister Elizabeth Riebschlaeger of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, and Reverend Lawrence L. Scott of New Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church, where the Adams family worships, attended a press conference at the Capitol Building in Austin to announce their support for clemency along with the victim’s family, including the grandmother, grandfather and aunt who are also related to Mr. Adams.

“Our family lost one child. We can’t bear to lose another. After my grandson’s death, we lived through pain worse than anyone could imagine. Nothing good will come from executing my son Tim and causing us more anguish,” said Columbus Adams, Mr. Adams’ father and a 30-year veteran of the Houston Fire Department. “We pray that God will fill Governor Perry’s heart with compassion. If not for Tim, then at least for our family."

Three jurors from Mr. Adams’ trial have come forward to request a commutation of Mr. Adams’ death sentence to one of life. They believe they were not presented at trial with a complete picture of Mr. Adams’ character and religious background. They believe that information relating to Mr. Adams’s upbringing, deep devotion to religion, and mental state would have caused them to stick with their initial inclination, which was to spare Mr. Adams and sentence him to life in prison.

Mr. Adams is loved and supported by members of his church, work supervisors, fellow soldiers from the military, and many others. For example:

-Mr. Adams was raised in a Christian home and was active member of New Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Houston. His Sunday school teacher, Verlene Edmond, remembers Mr. Adams as “quiet” and “polite” as a teenager and supports a commutation of Mr. Adams’ sentence.

-When Mr. Adams graduated from high school, he enlisted in the army and served his country. Mr. Adams’ friend Roger West, a Sergeant First Class in the United States Army, Purple Heart recipient, and about to be deployed on his 5th tour in Iraq, said that he wishes he could have “a whole platoon of guys like Tim.” Mr. Adams was honorably discharged in 1989.

-Mr. Adams was always a hard worker who wanted to support his young family. He worked as a security guard at Greenway Plaza in Houston. He was such a good worker that he was quickly promoted to supervisor of all security shifts. Tim’s supervisor, Diane Garcia, received “many, many positive comments and feedback on Tim’s performance."

-Mr. Adams was a role model to his younger siblings. Chadrick Adams, Mr. Adams’ brother, said his older brother taught him his work ethic and inspired him to earn a scholarship to and graduate from college.

From the beginning, Mr. Adams accepted responsibility for what he did. He pleaded guilty in open court and before the jury, even though he was not offered anything in return for his plea.

Mr. Adams has spent his time on death row reflecting on what he did, seeking forgiveness from his family, friends and God, and deepening his faith in Jesus Christ. He has been a model prisoner without a single disciplinary write-up on his record – not even for a minor infraction – during his 8 years in prison.

Mr. Adams is not a danger to anyone and never will be. If the Governor commutes his death sentence, he will spend the rest of his life in prison.

In conclusion, the faith leaders stated that “[w]e firmly believe that Mr. Adams must be held accountable for his actions. We simply pray in doing so, we ourselves do not lose sight of the humanity and compassion that Christ calls us to."

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Mr. Adams’ clemency petition and additional background material about the case is posted at http://www.timothywayneadams.com

Source: Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, February 17, 2011

Parole board rejects plea from Timothy Wayne Adams

HOUSTON — The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously rejected a clemency petition Friday from a convicted killer set to die next week for the shooting death of his 19-month-old son.

More than 90 clergy members from around the state had signed a letter to Gov. Rick Perry and the parole board appealing for clemency for Timothy Wayne Adams.

The seven-member board voted 7-0 twice - first against a 120-day reprieve and then against a recommendation to commute the sentence to life in prison.

Adams, 42, was set to die Tuesday evening in Huntsville for the slaying of his son, Timothy Adams Jr., in 2002 at the family's southwest Houston apartment. Evidence showed the shooting was in retaliation for Adams' wife leaving him.

In an appeal Friday to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court, the inmate's lawyers contended his death sentence was unconstitutional because a 2007 ruling from the court said a mother with no criminal history who murders her child because of stress and depression was not a future danger for purposes of sentencing.

The appeal argued Adams was not a future danger, that his stress and depression were similar to the case of the woman in 2007 and that under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment the only difference was that he was a man. Also, the prediction of future danger, a question Texas jurors must consider when deciding on a death sentence, is "inherently unreliable," according to the appeal.

"The prediction of future dangerousness has been belied by the nearly eight years that Mr. Adams has peaceably resided on death row," his attorneys said.

Prosecutors will have the opportunity to respond to the petition.

Adams pleaded guilty to killing his son with two shots from close range during a police standoff. The jury at his 2003 trial in Houston was given the choice of life in prison or death by injection.

Source: Star Telegram, February 19, 2011
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Scott Mills: ‘Gay hatred is everywhere in Uganda’

"Hang them!"

The situation for gay people in Uganda was far worse than he expected, Scott Mills says.

Speaking to PinkNews.co.uk about an upcoming documentary, the gay Radio 1 presenter told how he feared for his own safety in the country.

Mills met anti-gay MP David Bahati as part of filming for ‘The World’s Worst Place to be Gay?’.

When the presenter said he was gay, Bahati became enraged and the film crew fled.

Later, they heard that Bahati had sent armed police to a hotel he thought they were staying at.

“I was really frightened,” Mills said. “It’s just something that you wouldn’t think would happen. It was a real shock to the system and we were told to lie low.”

He said: “I wasn’t aware before I went about what was going on in Uganda.

“I met gay people in safe houses because they had to flee their homes. The newspapers print their names, their photos, even what car they drive. These people are just hounded.

“It’s so bizarre that somewhere just seven hours away by plane can be so different.”

During filming, Mills met victims of homophobia and the pastors preaching against homosexuality.

“All the gay people we met had a story about how they had been tormented or attacked,” he said.

“There was a guy we saw in hospital, he had AIDS and was very ill. But because they knew he was gay, he wasn’t getting the right treatment. He’s dead now.

“Then there was a girl called Stosh, who had to go into hiding after her face was plastered across the newspapers.

“It’s all very well reading about these things but when you actually go to Uganda, you realise how bad things are. It was a lot worse than I expected.”

Gay people in Uganda have “an air of optimism”, he said. “But they’re faced with every pastor, every teacher in every school, saying the same thing.

“They think things will change but it’s going to take a long time.”

When asked how attitudes could change, Mills said: “I don’t really know. The West has been quite vocal and President Obama publicly denounced Uganda but [the preachers] still say homosexuality is un-African, that it is against the family.

“They think it was brought in by the West.”

Many of those he met had been accused of “promoting” homosexuality and “recruiting” children.

He said: “The pastors claim that gay people go into schools and offer children money but when you talk to the schools, they say it hasn’t happened. There’s no evidence for it.”

The film crew also saw first-hand the influence Western preachers have on anti-gay sentiment in Uganda.

“It’s all wrapped up in Christianity and evangelicalism,” Mills said. “And Americans come over to preach. We went to a sermon and saw a guy from Atlanta preaching gay hate.”

He added: “I went to Uganda with the aim of making a fair and balanced film but in two weeks, we couldn’t find any [non-gay] person saying that homosexuality was okay.”

‘The World’s Worst Place to be Gay?’ will be shown on BBC Three at 9pm on Monday February 14th.

Source:Pink News, Feb. 11, 2011

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North Korea tripled executions to quell outcry

Public executions have more than tripled in North Korea since the dictatorship in late 2009 redenominated its currency and in the process sparked widespread public discontent, according to a recent report seen by The Japan Times.

According to the confidential South Korean government report obtained by Lee Young Hwa, an economics professor at Kansai University, 52 North Koreans were publicly executed between December 2009 and last November, compared with 16 reported executions between January and November 2009.

In the currency redenomination, which took place Nov. 30, 2009, citizens were required to turn in their old currency in exchange for new money at a rate of 100 old won to 1 new won. The government drastically limited the amount of old North Korean won that an individual could exchange, leaving many with piles of valueless paper.

The regime said the redenomination was necessary to curb inflation, but the new bills rapidly dropped in value. Analysts have said the move was aimed at undermining the street-market economy that had grown big, thus helping the government restore the state-run economic sector, which nearly collapsed in the 1990s.

The big losers in the forced exchange were private market traders who had prospered and accumulated surpluses.

The report said the surge in executions was a direct result of the redenomination and was aimed at instilling fear to dampen increasing public discontent aimed at the dictatorship.

"The number of public executions began increasing in 2009, when the succession of power from Kim Jong Il to his son and heir apparent, Kim Jong Un, became full-fledged," said Lee, a North Korea expert who also heads the organization Rescue the North Korean Refugees — Urgent Action Network (RENK).

"The report is a warning that North Korea's iron-fisted reign of terror will harden under Kim Jong Un," he said.

Crime categories that could be subject to the death penalty were increased from five to 21 in March 2008, and further categories were included following the redenomination, including "execution for illegal circulation of foreign currency," and "death by shooting for leaking information via cell phones," the report said.

The 52 executed included Korean Worker's Party high officials Pak Nam Gi and his deputy, Ri Tae Il, whom the report said were executed "as scapegoats" for the redenomination's failure.

Also notable were the executions of three Christian members of an underground church in Pyongsong, South Pyongyang Province, for proselytizing. Others died for distributing leaflets decrying the redenomination and for creating satirical effigies of Kim Jong Il.

"Demonstrations, distribution of leaflets, crackdown on an underground church — these are all proof of how social unrest is building in the North," he said.

Source: Japan Times, February 8, 2011

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Pakistan's PM rules out softening blasphemy laws

Pakistan's Prime Minister, Yousaf Gilani, said yesterday that his government had no plans to amend the country's controversial blasphemy laws, despite an earlier undertaking that the legislation would be reformed.

Addressing parliament, Mr Gilani said the policy of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) did not include a draft bill that would have altered the laws which impose a maximum penalty of death on offenders.

"Neither the government has moved a bill nor any committee has been formed to amend the said law as both the treasury and opposition benches are on the same page and are unanimous on this sensitive issue," he said.

Mr Gilani was speaking just a month after the Punjab governor, Salmaan Taseer, was assassinated in Islamabad because of his outspoken calls to reform the law.

Earlier, Mr Gilani told a meeting of parliamentarians that it was the PPP that had initially introduced blasphemy legislation and "therefore any amendment in this law would be against our party line".

The Prime Minister's comments were the latest in which he stressed the government's decision to back away from the issue, amid widespread protests from conservatives who have demanded the laws not be altered.

20,000 supporters of fundamentalist parties rallied in the streets of Karachi last month in support of Pakistan's blasphemy laws as they escalated threats against liberal politicians who want to see them amended.

At the demonstrations the face of Mr Taseer's assassin, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, was prominent on placards held by supporters.

MP Sherry Rehman, a former information minister, was among those who led efforts to reform the laws and produced a draft bill to amend them. Ms Rehman is now fearful for her safety and keeping a low-profile in Karachi after public death threats were made against her.

She had drafted the bill against the backdrop of the case of Aasia Noreen, commonly known as Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman who was sentenced to death after being found guilty of insulting Islam and promoting her own faith, charges that she denied.

Mr Taseer was also a supporter of Ms Bibi, incurring the wrath of hardliners when he visited her in prison.

Source: The Independent, February 5, 2011

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Catholic bishops ask Ohio to end executions

Ohio's Catholic bishops yesterday joined the chorus of those urging state leaders to abolish the death penalty, and a Franklin County legislator said he will introduce a bill proposing to repeal the state's 30-year-old capital-punishment law.

The call from church leaders comes on the heels of anti-death-penalty comments by Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul E. Pfeifer, a Republican who helped write the state's original death-penalty law, and Terry Collins, a former state prisons director who witnessed 33 executions.

"Just punishment can occur without resorting to the death penalty," said yesterday's statement signed by 10 Catholic church leaders, including Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr of Cincinnati, who is chairman of the Catholic Conference of Ohio, and Columbus Bishop Frederick F. Campbell.

"Our Church teachings consider the death penalty to be wrong in almost all cases. Every human being is a child of God, no matter what sins the person commits."

Rep. Ted Celeste, D-Grandview Heights, said he hopes to spark a civil dialogue about capital punishment when he introduces a bill in the next week or 2 to abolish the death penalty.

"What stimulated it for me was the recent numbers that showed Ohio was 2nd only to Texas in the number of executions," he said.

Ohio executed 8 people last year, the most since 1949, and has put to death 41 since resuming executions in 1999. Ohio was the only state to execute more people in 2010 than the previous year.

Celeste said he hopes the bill becomes part of the upcoming budget debate, in which lawmakers will be looking for ways to fill an estimated $8 billion shortfall. Data have shown that incarcerating someone for life is considerably less expensive because of the many appeals tied to death-penalty cases.

Collins wrote in a recent column published in The Dispatch that the death penalty's cost to counties and the state "is not a fiscally responsible policy for Ohio."

"The death penalty is expensive, often inefficient and always time-consuming," he wrote. "Too often our justice system does not place the worst of the worst on death row."

Pfeifer argued that the death penalty is being used in cases for which it was never intended.

"I think the time's right on this one," he said in January. "You have Republicans in every direction. ... With that political configuration, it would be the most opportune time to seriously debate and discuss whether or not we have the death penalty."

Celeste said he also is concerned that the death penalty is not uniformly applied around the state. "Some counties may never choose the death penalty because it is too expensive. It doesn't really afford equal justice."

He is not sure whether his bill could affect the 157 inmates on death row.

Ohio's next scheduled execution, of triple-murderer Frank Spisak of Cuyahoga County, is Feb. 17. Another execution is set for March, and prosecutors around the state have asked the state Supreme Court to set dates for 13 more convicted killers.

Gov. John Kasich and Attorney General Mike DeWine were among the state senators who voted for Ohio's death-penalty bill in 1981, and they still back it. House Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina, supports the death penalty, a spokesman said.

County prosecutors have traditionally opposed efforts to end capital punishment.

Source: Columbus Dispatch, Feb. 5, 2011

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Afghans face death penalty for converting to Christianity

The U.S. government and some international Christian organizations are lobbying the Afghan government to release two men who could be executed after being arrested on apostasy charges for converting to Christianity.

The U.S. has called on Afghan leaders to respect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that Afghanistan has endorsed, which theoretically protects freedom of religion for invidiuals. Yet, evangelizing and converting to a non-Muslim religion are forbidden by the Afghan consitution and carry the death penalty.

According to AFP, 22-year-old Afghan Enayat is one of thousands of non-Muslims in Afghanistan who fear for their lives:

"I used to carry my bible everywhere -- I don't any more," says the baby-faced convert, using a pseudonym for fear of being identified and speaking to AFP at the home of a trusted friend, west of Kabul. "I don't want to call myself a Christian, people would think I'm immoral."

Missionaries suspected of trying to convert others to Christianity have been killed in recent years, including eight foreign medics accused by the Taliban who were shot dead in north Afghanistan in August. However, the Christian aid group they represented which had worked in the country for 45 years said it never proselytized.

The two Afghans under custody were arrested in May after a local television broadcast footage of men being baptized and reciting Christian prayers in Farsi, which triggered angry protests.

One of the men imprisoned, Musa Sayed, who works for the International Committee of the Red Cross, claimed in a letter that he has been beaten, raped and humiliated "day and night".

Source: The Examiner, January 27, 2011

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Hospira to Stop Making Lethal-Injection Drug

The sole U.S. maker of a key execution drug has decided to permanently halt production of the drug, which could lead many states to face delay in carrying out the death penalty.

The decision made on Friday by Hospira Inc. caps months of controversy over thiopental sodium, an anesthetic that has long been used by states as a part of a cocktail of drugs administered during a lethal injection.

Hospira's decision puts a wrench in the nation's capital-punishment system. States can attempt to use another anesthetic in place of thiopental, but such a switch likely would need to be approved by courts and possibly state legislators.

Many states have run out of thiopental, forcing prison officials to delay executions. The drug shortage followed a 2009 decision by Hospira to suspend production due to manufacturing issues.

The Lake Forrest, Ill., company had planned to resume producing thiopental in the first quarter of 2011 at a company plant in Liscate, Italy. But in December, the Italian parliament issued an order binding the government to ensure that Hospira's Italian-made thiopental would not be used in lethal injections.

In the face of that opposition, Hospira ultimately decided to exit the thiopental market, said company spokeswoman Tareta Adams. "This will be a challenge for [medical] customers and we regret that," Ms. Adams said. "But we don't want to put our Italian facility at risk that the product will be misused" by U.S. prisons.

Hospira, she said, has had discussions with its drug distributors to see if the companies could block the drug from being sold to prisons, but Hospira ultimately decided there was no way to ensure the drug would not be "misused" by prisons.

Late last year, a drug used to euthanize animals was approved for use in capital punishment in Oklahoma. The shortage of thiopental sodium had prompted the state to seek court clearance to use pentobarbital as a substitute.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot in November approved the use of pentobarbital and denied requests to delay the executions of two Oklahoma inmates, whose attorneys had protested its use.

The state has said in court filings that veterinarians regard pentobarbital "as an ideal anesthetic agent for humane euthanasia in animals" and that it is "substantially" similar to thiopental.

Judge Friot's ruling could prompt other states to use pentobarbital, and thus prevent delays in capital punishment. In the early 1970s, Oklahoma was the first state to approve the use of thiopental in capital punishment, and it later become the nationwide standard for lethal injections.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, January 21, 2011

How Italian Catholics pulled the plug on US executions

The news has broken today that the sole US manufacturer of a key drug used in lethal injections will cease production because authorities in Italy, where the drug was to be made, wanted a guarantee that it wouldn't be used to put inmates to death.

Hospira Inc. of Lake Forest, Ill, had decided to switch production of the anaesthetic sodium thiopental from its North Carolina plant to Liscate, outside of Milan. But the Italian Parliament wanted the company to control the product's distribution to prevent it being used for executions. Hospira decided it couldn't make that promise and has decided to suspend production -- potentially throwing the death penalty system in the US into disarray.

But what's missing from today's reports is that behind the Italian Parliament's insistence is a lay Catholic movement dedicated -- among many other things - to the eradication of the death penalty around the world. The Rome-based Community of Sant'Egidio had been engaged in discussions with Hospira's Italian subsidiary, Hospira SL, which led to meetings with the Foreign Affairs minister, Franco Frattini, and the Ministry of Health. The result of those meetings was an agreement that the production of the drug in Italy would have to be for strictly therapeutic purposes. The company has long deplored its use in executions, and said it regretted the need to cease production.

Hospira's choice to end production because it couldn't give that guarantee was described as "highly responsible" by Sant'Egidio's spokesman, Mario Marazziti, who said: "It highlights the point that therapeutic drugs and doctors should never be used to bring about death".

Sodium thiopental is already in short supply after the British government last November also banned the UK manufacture of the drug following a campaign by the British NGO Reprieve. According to the Wall Street Journal's law blog, Hospira's decision means the death penalty system in the US "is potentially thrown into turmoil". States can attempt to use another anaesthetic instead -- Oklahoma, for example, has switched to a drug used to euthanise cats and dogs -- but it involves seeking clearance from the courts, which is likely to delay executions.

There is a lesson here about globalization. It's not just the market that's gone global. It's civil society pressure, too.

Source: America Magazine, January 21, 2011


States Face Shortage of Key Lethal Injection Drug

The sole American manufacturer of an anesthetic widely used in lethal injections said Friday that it would no longer produce the drug, a move likely to delay more executions and force states to adopt new drug combinations.

The manufacturer, Hospira Inc., of Lake Forest, Ill., had originally planned to resume production of the drug, sodium thiopental, this winter at a plant in Italy, giving state corrections departments hope that the scarcity that began last fall would ease.

But the Italian authorities said they would not permit export of the drug if it might be used for capital punishment. Hospira said in a statement Friday that its aim was to serve medical customers, but that “we could not prevent the drug from being diverted to departments of corrections” and the company did not want to expose itself to liability in Italy.

Hospira does not have domestic facilities that can make sodium thiopental, said Daniel Rosenberg, a spokesman, and has decided to “exit the market.” No other American companies manufacture the drug, which has largely been supplanted by alternatives in hospitals but is used by 34 of the 35 states that use lethal injection to carry out the death penalty. An average of 55 executions have taken place annually over the last 10 years, with 46 last year and 52 in 2009, virtually all of them by lethal injection.

During what had been described as a temporary halt to production last year, scarcity of sodium thiopental led to delays in scheduled executions in at least two states, California and Oklahoma.

The extent to which execution schedules will be further disrupted by the drug shortage is not yet clear, but it could be considerable. In many states, adopting a new protocol for lethal injections requires formal proposals, public comment and often challenges in court — a process that can take months or more, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. But in others, switching drugs might be done more quickly, by administrative fiat.

Lethal injections commonly involve a sequence of three drugs that is set by state regulations: an anesthetic — sodium thiopental in every state but Oklahoma — intended to prevent pain, followed by a muscle relaxant and a drug that stops the heart.

As the shortage became acute last fall, California and Arizona obtained shipments of sodium thiopental from England, but the British government has since refused to allow exports of drugs for use in capital punishment, a policy that is under consideration by the entire European Union.

Those were two of several special shipments to corrections departments permitted by the Food and Drug Administration in 2009 and 2010, said Christopher Kelly, a spokesman for the agency. “No shipments are currently being held,” Mr. Kelly said on Friday.

Texas, which carries out more executions than any other state, has an aging stock of sodium thiopental that will expire in March, leaving it unusable.

“There currently are four executions scheduled in Texas — two in February, one in May and one in July,” said Michelle Lyons, director of public information at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. “At this time, we have enough sodium thiopental on hand to carry out the two executions scheduled in February. In March, our supply of this particular drug is set to expire.”

“The Texas Department of Criminal Justice will explore other options, including possibly seeking an alternate drug for use in Texas’ lethal injection process,” she said in an e-mail.

Two states, Ohio and Washington, use only one drug, sodium thiopental, which is fatal at larger doses for executions.

“What I can tell you is Ohio does have enough sodium pentothal to carry out the execution scheduled in February,” said JoEllen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, using an alternate name for the drug. “But beyond that we are going to decline to comment on our supply of the lethal injection drug.”

Officials in Washington said that they had not had time to consider how to adapt to the news that sodium thiopental will no longer be available. The state has seven people on death row, but no executions are currently scheduled.

Officials in Arizona, where 134 people are on death row, said they had enough sodium thiopental for five executions, although none are currently scheduled.

Many states are expected to follow the lead of Oklahoma, substituting pentobarbital — another, more easily available anesthetic — in a similar three-drug sequence.

Pentobarbital is widely used in veterinary medicine and is also used in legal human euthanasia in Oregon. Death penalty opponents challenged the switch last year in Oklahoma, arguing that the effectiveness of pentobarbital in preventing pain during executions had not been proved. But a federal judge sided with the state, which has since used the new drug in three executions.

Jerry Massie, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, said the department orders the drug through a “private pharmacist” but would not specify who.

Only one company, Lundbeck Inc., now markets injectable pentobarbital in the United States, according to the F.D.A., but the agency said it was not aware of any shortage.      

Source: The New York Times, January 22, 2011
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'Thousands rally over blasphemy law in Pakistan'

KARACHI — More than 20,000 people rallied in Pakistan's southern city of Karachi on Sunday, police said, against proposed amendment to blasphemy laws that were recently used to sentence a Christian woman to death.

The protest follows Tuesday's assassination of the governor of Punjab province, Salman Taseer, by one of his bodyguards, after the politician sought to reform the law that gives the death penalty for defamation of the Prophet Mohammad.

Pakistan's most high-profile political killing in three years has bitterly divided the country, horrifying moderates but winning praise from religious scholars and lawyers who festooned the presumed killer in garlands.

Two senior police officers in Karachi said more than 20,000 protesters had joined the rally and more were arriving, while senior police official Irshad Sehar told AFP that more than 30,000 people were taking part.

Banners at the event included some supporting Taseer's presumed killer, police commando Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, who has been praised by religious conservatives for shooting his boss outside an Islamabad coffee shop.

"Mumtaz Qadri is not a murderer, he is a hero," said one banner in the national Urdu language.

"We are ready to sacrifice our lives for the dignity of the Prophet Mohammad," read another.

Activists at the rally, which has been organised by conservative religious groups, called for "Jihad" or holy war.

The protest forced the closure of the city's main road and all markets in the teeming southern metropolis.

Controversy over the law flared when former information minister Sherry Rehman tabled a private member's bill in November, calling to end the death penalty for blasphemy, after a Christian mother-of-five was sentenced to hang.

Rights activists also say the law encourages Islamist extremism in a nation already beseiged by Taliban attacks.

Politicians and conservative clerics have been at loggerheads over whether President Asif Ali Zardari should pardon Asia Bibi, the Christian mother who was sentenced to death under the blasphemy law.

Pakistan has yet to execute anyone for blasphemy, but Bibi's case has exposed the deep faultlines in the conservative country

Bibi was arrested in June 2009 after Muslim women labourers refused to drink from a bowl of water she was asked to fetch while out working in the fields.

Days later, the women complained that she made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammed. Bibi was set upon by a mob, arrested by police and sentenced on November 8.

Most of those convicted of blasphemy in Pakistan have their sentences overturned or commuted on appeal through the courts.

Rights activists and pressure groups say it is the first time that a woman had been sentenced to hang in Pakistan for blasphemy.

Only around three percent of Pakistan's population of 167 million are estimated to be non-Muslim.

Source: Agence France-Presse, January

Below: Video: Thousands rally in Pakistan over blasphemy law, Al Jazeera

UAE: Court sets precedent for death penalty application

ABU DHABI -- The emirate's highest court has ordered a convicted murderer to be retried under an alternative Islamic school of legal thought that may allow for him to be sentenced to death.

The ruling by the Abu Dhabi Court of Cassation is a legal precedent in a case in which the killer was sentenced by two lower courts to 15 years in prison, instead of the death penalty, because he was a Muslim and the victim was not.

Abu Dhabi courts and the Federal Supreme Court hear cases under the Maliki school of Islamic legal thought, which includes rulings that a Muslim who murders a non-Muslim cannot face execution.

In this case, the Abu Dhabi Court of Cassation ordered it be tried under Hanafi teachings, the only Sunni school of jurisprudence that calls for the death penalty if a Muslim kills a non-Muslim.

The current case, from 2008, involved a Sudanese Muslim man who murdered a Christian woman from Ethiopia by stabbing her 17 times.

The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance found him guilty of premeditated murder, sentenced him to 15 years in prison and ordered him to pay Dh100,000 in blood money.

The Abu Dhabi Court of Appeals upheld the sentence and public prosecutors appealed the case to the Court of Cassation.

Prosecutors presented two main arguments. They said it was in the interest of the country to try Muslims and non-Muslims under Hanafi to ensure equality for all residents. They also said the victim was a legitimate resident and therefore entitled to protection, security and sanctity for her "blood, honour and money".

Chief Justice Al Siddiq Abulhassan Mohammed of the Court of Cassation agreed, overturned the sentence and sent the case back to the appeal court to be tried under Hanafi. The appellate court sentenced the man to death.

Court of Cassation rulings are binding on local courts, so judges in the emirate will be required to treat the murder of a non-Muslim in the same light as that of a Muslim. Murder cases are tried under Sharia, which requires the death penalty if the victim's family demands it.

Dr Ahmed al Kubaisi, the head of Sharia studies at UAE University, praised the ruling which he said considered the wider and long-term interests of the country as ordained by Sharia.

Dr al Kubaisi said Islamic law required judges to use their discretion when there was a conflict between justice and politics.

"In Islamic jurisprudence judges can announce that a person is sentenced to death in accordance with Sharia but should not be killed in consideration of politics," Dr al Kubaisi said. "In Islamic law the interests of the nation precede the interests of the individual.

"Justice that safeguards the interests of the whole nation is preferable to that which safeguards the interests of the individual. The ruling is completely sound according to Islamic law."

The Hanafi school is one of four schools of jurisprudence in Sunni Islam, and the oldest.

Hanafi scholars argue that Sharia requires the death penalty for all murderers regardless of their religious background. They note that an Islamic text that prohibits the killing of a Muslim for taking a non-Muslim life was meant to be applied only in times of war.

The Court of Cassation's ruling is final, and not subject to appeal.

Source: The National, December 30, 2010

Santa Was in Prison and Jesus Got the Death Penalty

Crucifixion, Giotto (1304-06)

As Christmas is celebrated in Incarceration Nation, it’s worth remembering certain things about the two figures who dominate this holiday.

As more than 3,000 Americans sit on death row, we revere the birth of a godly man who was arrested, “tried,” sentenced, and put to death by the state. The Passion is the story of an execution, and the Stations of the Cross trace the path of a Dead Man Walking.

Less well known is the fact that Saint Nicholas, the early Christian saint who inspired Santa Claus, was once a prisoner, like one in every 100 Americans today. Though he was beloved for his kindness and generosity, Nicholas acquired sainthood not only by giving alms, but in part by performing a miracle that more or less amounted to a prison break.

As we described in one of our earliest posts on Solitary Watch, Nicholas was the 4th-century Greek Bishop of Myra (in present-day Turkey). Under the Roman emperor Diocletian, who persecuted Christians, Nicholas spent some five years in prison–and according to some accounts, in solitary confinement.

Under Constantine, the first Christian emperor, Nicholas fared better until the Council of Nicaea, in 325 A.D. There, after having a serious theological argument with another powerful bishop, Nicholas became so enraged that he walked across the room and slapped the man.

It was illegal for one bishop to strike another. According to an account provided by the St. Nicholas Center: “The bishops stripped Nicholas of his bishop’s garments, chained him, and threw him into jail. That would keep Nicholas away from the meeting. When the Council ended a final decision would be made about his future.”

Nicholas spent the night praying for guidance, and was visited by Jesus and Mary. “When the jailer came in the morning, he found the chains loose on the floor and Nicholas dressed in bishop’s robes, quietly reading the Scriptures.” It was determined that no one could have visited or helped him during the night. Constantine ordered Nicholas freed and reinstated as the Bishop of Myra, and his feat would later be declared one of many miracles performed by the saint.

Saint Nicholas lived on to serve the poor during the devastating famine that hit his part of Turkey in 342 AD. He is reported to have anonymously visited starving families at night and distributed gold coins to help them buy scarce food.

But here in America two thousand years later, Christians go to church to worship an executed savior and shop to commemorate an incarcerated saint, with little thought to their 2 million countrymen who are spending this Christmas behind bars.

Sources: Solitary Watch, Mother Jones, December 25, 2010

UN asks Iraq to abolish death penalty

The top U.N. envoy in Iraq is calling on the country's government to abolish the death penalty amid demands by Iraq's interior minister for the swift execution of terror suspects.

United Nations Special Representative Ad Melkert made his appeal Friday on the 62nd anniversary of a U.N. treaty calling for worldwide human rights.

Last week, Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani demanded death sentences for 39 suspected insurgents before they have been tried or convicted of involvement in bomb plots in Baghdad.

Melkert's appeal comes after several European governments and the Vatican have requested amnesty for Tariq Aziz, the only Christian in Saddam Hussein's inner circle who was sentenced to death in October for persecuting Shiite political parties.

Source: Associated Press, December 10, 2010

In Africa, homosexuality emerging as hot-button issue

In Kenya, Prime Minister Raila Odinga recently told supporters in the Nairobi slum of Kibera that he would order police to arrest gays. In Uganda and Malawi, debate is rising over the legality of homosexuality.

Long seen as a fringe societal taboo far from the realm of African politics, homosexuality is emerging as a hot-button issue throughout much of the continent. Kenya, East Africa's economic hub, joined the trend in late November when Prime Minister Raila Odinga told supporters in the Nairobi slum of Kibera that he would order police to arrest gays.

"We will not tolerate such behavior in the country. The Constitution is very clear on this issue, and men or women found engaging in homosexuality will not be spared," Mr. Odinga said in Swahili, in comments that were taped by several news organizations. "Any man found engaging in sexual activities with another man should be arrested. Even women found engaging in sexual activities will be arrested."

The statement -- which brought cheers in the Kibera slum -- has created a sharp divide between Christian conservatives, who argue that homosexuality is against religious laws and "the law of nature," and human rights activists, who argue that stigmatizing any minority is illegal. It serves as the latest example of an outlook driven by the growing political assertiveness of powerful Christian churches that bolster existing social stigmas against gays.

"Normally, we judge a country's development by its tolerance of minorities," says Njeri Kabeberi, executive director of the Center for Multiparty Democracy in Nairobi. "We've seen this same issue come up in Uganda, in Zimbabwe, in Malawi, where gays are assaulted, arrested, jailed. Anything like that, the prime minister should condemn, but instead, he's encouraging it."

Ms. Kabeberi encouraged the prime minister to retract his statement, if only because Kenya's newly enacted Constitution does not, in fact, make homosexuality illegal. (Kenyan law merely states that marriage should be defined as between a man and a woman.)

If the statement was Odinga's attempt to become popular with Kenya's powerful churches, she adds, "the wrath of the civil society is going to make him wish he wasn't popular on this issue. He should be urging Kenyans to be tolerant, instead of himself being intolerant."

While recordings of Odinga's speech have been made public online, Odinga's spokesman Dennis Onyango issued a statement saying that Odinga was misquoted.

Odinga said he intended to clarify that the Constitution was not, as alleged by opponents, going to legalize same-sex marriages.

Yet even this statement stops short of retracting the statement attributed to Odinga of calling for the arrest of gays.

A regional trend

In Uganda, where homosexuality is already illegal under British colonial-era laws, the parliament briefly debated and then withdrew a proposed bill that would have imposed lengthy sentences, and in some cases the death penalty, for homosexuals.

In Malawi, an openly gay couple was convicted in May under a colonial-era law banning "unnatural acts" and sentenced to 14 years in prison, before international pressure prompted the government to set the sentences aside.

And in Kenya, as the country prepared to vote last summer in a referendum to establish the new Constitution -- an attempt to prevent a return of the leadership crisis that followed ethnic clashes after the December 2007 elections -- it was conservative Kenyan churches (urged on by the Pat Robertson-funded American Center for Law and Justice) who opposed the Constitution, arguing incorrectly that the new Constitution would have legalized abortion and same-sex marriages.

Converging reasons

Wanyeki Muthoni, executive director of the independent Kenya Human Rights Commission, says that the tumult over homosexuality is the result of three converging trends.

First, Kenyan gays are becoming more politically active and vocal, lobbying hard for "basic equality and nondiscrimination." Second, the global debate over the ordination of gay priests, increasingly accepted in Europe and the United States, has caused a conservative backlash here in Africa, with African churches largely rejecting those reforms. Finally, African churches have been radicalized by what Ms. Muthoni charges is "the ever-increasing influence of homophobic American Evangelicals in Africa."

For Kenyan gays, Odinga's statement means tough times ahead.

"Harassment has been going on. Yesterday, two people were arrested by cops for homosexuality; three people were arrested the day before, but they managed to get out of jail," says Zawadi Nyongo, an independent social justice activist. "I have been receiving hate mail myself, through e-mail, and I'm not even on the front lines."

"We're all baffled by this," she adds. "How can a government that is trying to help people to get tested for HIV and to seek treatment, how can thatsame government talk about arresting gays?"

Source: Christian Science Monitor, December 9, 2010