TAIWAN. NO VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN IMPLEMENTATION OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) said that Taiwan had not violated any human rights principles in its handling of capital punishment cases or in its treatment of death-row inmates, but it promised to refer to other countries' measures to refine the existing system.
The ministry was responding to a report issued by FIDH -- the French acronym of the International Federation for Human Rights -- on Taiwan's use of the death penalty. FIDH Vice Chairwoman Siobhan Ni Chulachain unveiled the report at a news conference in Taipei on June 12.
The FIDH report made a case for Taiwan to craft a timetable for phasing out capital punishment. The report also claimed that Taiwan had violated the UN's minimum requirements for treatment of death-row inmates by demanding that death-row inmates wear leg irons on a long-term basis. In response, MOJ officials said the FIDH report was incorrect, stressing that local prisons and reformatory centers had been ordered not to use handcuffs, leg irons or leg cuffs, shackles or other such restraining gear for punitive purposes. Under prison management rules, the officials said, leg irons and handcuffs were used only for protective purposes, meaning that only death-row inmates who were emotionally unstable or likely to flee or commit suicide were restrained in accordance with regulations set forth in the Criminal Procedure Code.
As to the FIDH's suspicions that local death-row inmates might have been forced to donate their organs before execution, the MOJ official said such speculation and concerns were unfounded. Of the 12 death-row inmates executed between 2003 and the present, seven donated their organs of their own free will. None of their organ donations ran against medical ethics principles, the official stressed.
On the FIDH's criticism that Taiwan failed to allow death-row inmates to meet with their families before their execution, the official said preparations for executions had proceeded in secret with a view to ensuring security and avoiding causing anxiety or adding to the suffering of the family members. In fact, the officials said, death-row inmates invariably had enough time to meet their beloved ones and prison authorities consistently informed their families immediately after the execution.
The official further said the MOJ would work with other government agencies to revise laws that prescribed "capital punishment" as the only penalty, in tandem with the principle of gradually phasing out the punishment.