Opponents of the death penalty from around the world...

Opponents of the death penalty from around the world were to have their second world congress in Montreal. The cast included politicians, diplomats and celebrities such as Bianca Jagger, Catherine Deneuve and former car rally world champion Ari Vatanen, now a member of the European Parliament representing Finland. Although Canada does not have the death penalty, organisers were pointing out the symbolic value of the conference being held so close to the United States which was to hold presidential and congressional elections the following month.
The death penalty is not an issue in the United States, which has one of the highest numbers of inmates awaiting execution.
The Montreal meeting would culminate with a mass rally against capital punishment with some 3,500 activists planning to dress in mourning black. The protest would symbolize the number of people currently waiting in "death row" prisons around the United States, according to organisers.
Among the highlights of the conference would be the reading of messages of support from Pope John-Paul II and several leading politicians including French President Jacques Chirac, according to the program.
Several former death row inmates were to address the conference, which was to demand the abolition of capital punishment wherever it existed, including in the last big democracies that hadn't abolished it, like the United States, India, Taiwan, Thailand and Japan.
The gathering came three years after the first world congress against the death penalty, which was held in Strasbourg, and is organised by the Paris-based Ensemble contre le Peine de mort (ECPM) and the London-based Penal Reform International (PRI).