Commutations of sentence and acts of clemency
Archive theme
A death sentence can be turned into a prison sentence by an act of clemency: commutation, pardon, amnesty, remission. These rest with heads of state, courts and clemency boards, and not infrequently arrive within hours of an execution.
For the association they are a concrete front: every commutation is a life, and the countries that grant many of them are often the ones closest to a moratorium in fact. This page collects the news on commutations, pardons and acts of clemency.
Latest news
- JUNE 3, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigeria's Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) appealed...
Nigeria's Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) appealed to Abia State Governor Orji Kalu to exercise his prerogative of mercy for four Nigerians whose death sentence was recently affirmed by the Supreme Court
- MAY 21, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Philippine Labour Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas said...
Philippine Labour Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas said she would ask the Saudi Arabian government to spare the lives of three overseas Filipino workers sentenced to execution in the Middle East kingdom during the six-day visit to Saudi Arabia from May 23 t
- MAY 21, 2002PhilippinesDEATH PENALTY
Philippine Labour Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas said...
Philippine Labour Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas said she would ask the Saudi Arabian government to spare the lives of three overseas Filipino workers sentenced to execution in the Middle East kingdom during the six-day visit to Saudi Arabia from May 23 t
- MAY 20, 2002AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Two men were hanged for murder in the remote Pakistani...
Two men were hanged for murder in the remote Pakistani town of Much on May 7
- MAY 20, 2002PakistanDEATH PENALTY
Two men were hanged for murder in the remote Pakistani...
Two men were hanged for murder in the remote Pakistani town of Much on May 7
- APRIL 10, 2002TanzaniaDEATH PENALTY
One hundred people convicted of murder have had their...
One hundred people convicted of murder have had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment by Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, Home Affairs Minister Mohammed Seif Khatib said
- MARCH 28, 2002SudanDEATH PENALTY
Sudan admitted for the first time that a young Christian...
Sudan admitted for the first time that a young Christian woman had been condemned to death by stoning for adultery
- MARCH 14, 2002PolandDEATH PENALTY
Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski appealed to...
Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski appealed to the Nigerian president to commute the death sentence of Safiya Hussaini Tungar-Tudu
- MARCH 14, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski appealed to...
Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski appealed to the Nigerian president to commute the death sentence of Safiya Hussaini Tungar-Tudu
- MARCH 11, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
Brushing aside pleas for mercy from the British government,...
Brushing aside pleas for mercy from the British government, European Union and prominent opponents of capital punishment, a Georgia pardons board refused to block the execution of a British man [Tracy Housel] sentenced to death for the 1985 murder of a fe
- MARCH 3, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
The Briton awaiting execution by lethal injection in...
The Briton awaiting execution by lethal injection in America expressed his remorse for the murder of a woman 17 years ago and his gratitude to Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, and other politicians for their efforts to spare his life
- FEBRUARY 22, 2002MoroccoDEATH PENALTY
Morocco's King Mohammed pardoned 854 prisoners on the...
Morocco's King Mohammed pardoned 854 prisoners on the eve of the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha, the official MAP news agency said
- FEBRUARY 21, 2002ThailandDEATH PENALTY
A Thai man facing the death sentence for murdering...
A Thai man facing the death sentence for murdering a taxi driver in Singapore has little chance of avoiding execution, a senior labour official said
- FEBRUARY 21, 2002SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
A Thai man facing the death sentence for murdering...
A Thai man facing the death sentence for murdering a taxi driver in Singapore has little chance of avoiding execution, a senior labour official said
- FEBRUARY 20, 2002FijiDEATH PENALTY
The family of jailed coup leader George Speight will...
The family of jailed coup leader George Speight will appeal his life sentence
- FEBRUARY 19, 2002FijiDEATH PENALTY
Fears of a revolt led to a decision to commute George...
Fears of a revolt led to a decision to commute George Speight's sentence to life
- FEBRUARY 18, 2002FijiDEATH PENALTY
Fiji coup leader George Speight escaped the death penalty...
Fiji coup leader George Speight escaped the death penalty when the South Pacific island nation's president commuted a death sentence for treason to life imprisonment
- FEBRUARY 18, 2002FijiDEATH PENALTY
Deposed the government of Mahendra Chaudhry said he...
Deposed the government of Mahendra Chaudhry said he was surprised by Speight's guilty plea, and the speed with which his sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment
- FEBRUARY 6, 2002RussiaDEATH PENALTY
Writer Anatoly Pristavkin, adviser the Russian president...
Writer Anatoly Pristavkin, adviser the Russian president Vladimir Putin on pardons, hopes that Russia "will soon bow out of the shameful list" of countries that have execution in force
- JANUARY 28, 2002YemenDEATH PENALTY
A Yemeni official source told the Yemen Times that...
A Yemeni official source told the Yemen Times that a general amnesty was likely to be issued on the Yemeni Socialist Party's leaders who were convicted with different charges after the 1994 civil war
- JANUARY 25, 2002MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
A 49-year-old man convicted of drug trafficking was...
A 49-year-old man convicted of drug trafficking was hanged at the Kajang Prison
- JANUARY 24, 2002VietnamDEATH PENALTY
In its second periodic report to the UN Human Rights...
In its second periodic report to the UN Human Rights Committee, Vietnam detailed how it plans to deal with death-row appeals
- JANUARY 15, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A death sentence passed on a Swiss national for the...
A death sentence passed on a Swiss national for the 1997 murder of a schoolgirl in China's Yunnan province has been commuted to life imprisonment, AP said
- JANUARY 10, 2002North CarolinaDEATH PENALTY
A condemned man who steadfastly denied beating his...
A condemned man who steadfastly denied beating his girlfriend to death in 1990 escaped execution Thursday as Gov
- JANUARY 1, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty is provided for by the Penal Code...
The death penalty is provided for by the Penal Code and by Art
- JANUARY 1, 2002KyrgyzstanDEATH PENALTY
A new Penal Code entered into force in January 1998...
A new Penal Code entered into force in January 1998 and reduced the number of capital crimes, also replacing the death penalty with a maximum of 30 years
- JANUARY 1, 2002JapanDEATH PENALTY
It is estimated that there are about 50 death-row inmates...
It is estimated that there are about 50 death-row inmates in Japan
- JANUARY 1, 2002ThailandDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty applies in Thailand to heroin or...
The death penalty applies in Thailand to heroin or amphetamine drug trafficking and especially where the prisoner is found guilty after pleading not guilty at the start of their trial
- JANUARY 1, 2002ThailandDEATH PENALTY
According to Section 31 of the Constitution, "A person...
According to Section 31 of the Constitution, "A person shall enjoy rights and liberties in his/her life and person
- JANUARY 1, 2002EgyptDEATH PENALTY
All capital executions must first be approved by the...
All capital executions must first be approved by the Mufti, the country's highest religious authority
