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
- NOVEMBER 1, 2000United StatesDEATH PENALTY
First Federal Execution Delayed
First Federal Execution Delayed
- OCTOBER 4, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani said that there was...
Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani said that there was no ruling that the death sentence of a prisoner would automatically be commuted to life imprisonment if the state failed to execute the sentence within a year
- OCTOBER 2, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
Dullah Omar, architect of the amnesty process came...
Dullah Omar, architect of the amnesty process came face to face with Ferdi Barnard, the apartheid assassin who tried to gun him down in 1989
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2000JordanDEATH PENALTY
A military court sentenced six of the men to death...
A military court sentenced six of the men to death for plotting a bombing campaign against Jews and Christians during the Millennium celebrations at the start of the year
- SEPTEMBER 12, 2000JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
Six convicted murderers in Jamaica were spared from...
Six convicted murderers in Jamaica were spared from hanging by a Privy Council ruling that all prisoners should be given access to the Jamaican Mercy Committee, the body which decides who will be executed and who should receive mercy
- AUGUST 24, 2000South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
The government was to pardon more than 30,000 convicts...
The government was to pardon more than 30,000 convicts in order to promote national reconciliation on the anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule
- AUGUST 9, 2000South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
Justice Ministry officials said that more than 40 prisoners...
Justice Ministry officials said that more than 40 prisoners on death row were to have their terms lightened to life sentences in honor of "National Liberation Day
- JULY 21, 2000UgandaDEATH PENALTY
The Uganda Human Rights Initiative (UFHRI) thanked...
The Uganda Human Rights Initiative (UFHRI) thanked President Yoweri Museveni for commuting sentences of 16 convicts on 13th July and called for a moratorium on the death penalty
- JULY 13, 2000UgandaDEATH PENALTY
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni commuted death sentences...
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni commuted death sentences of 16 condemned prisoners by reducing the sentences of 12 of them to life imprisonment and freeing four others
- JULY 7, 2000ThailandDEATH PENALTY
The King commuted the death sentence of two Israeli...
The King commuted the death sentence of two Israeli drug traffickers to life imprisonment
- JULY 5, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A division bench of the Allahabad High Court set aside...
A division bench of the Allahabad High Court set aside the death sentence on three prisoners for committing two murders in Etah on July 20, 1999
- JUNE 28, 2000DominicaDEATH PENALTY
The High Court judge Dunbar Cenac sentenced Mwanga...
The High Court judge Dunbar Cenac sentenced Mwanga Freeman, 24, and Leroy Langford, 31, to hang for the 1998 murder of Ossie Charles, 38
- JUNE 21, 2000JapanDEATH PENALTY
The families of two victims of convicted killer Toshihiko...
The families of two victims of convicted killer Toshihiko Hasegawa asked the Justice Ministry to commute his death sentence to life in prison
- MAY 14, 2000TexasDEATH PENALTY
Some members of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles...
Some members of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles have expressed doubts about Gov
- MAY 14, 2000LebanonDEATH PENALTY
South Lebanese Army (SLA) leader General Antoine Lahad...
South Lebanese Army (SLA) leader General Antoine Lahad called on Lebanese President Emile Lahoud to issue a blanket amnesty for all SLA militiamen and whoever else the Beirut government might consider a collaborator with Israel
- MAY 9, 2000PakistanDEATH PENALTY
Four persons were hung at the Gujrat District Jail
Four persons were hung at the Gujrat District Jail
- APRIL 25, 2000United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
An appeals court in the United Arab Emirates commuted...
An appeals court in the United Arab Emirates commuted a sentence against an Indonesian woman from death by stoning for adultery to one year in prison
- APRIL 25, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The governor of India's southern state of Tamil Nadu...
The governor of India's southern state of Tamil Nadu commuted the death sentence imposed on Nalini, a main defendant in the 1991 killing of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, to life imprisonment
- APRIL 14, 2000PhilippinesDEATH PENALTY
Senator Loren Legarda asked for the commutation of...
Senator Loren Legarda asked for the commutation of the death sentences of 13 convicts who are more than 70 years old, or about to turn 70 this year, saying the death penalty law precludes the execution of convicts over 70 for humanitarian reasons
- APRIL 8, 2000GhanaDEATH PENALTY
President Jerry John Rawlings granted amnesty to 1,000...
President Jerry John Rawlings granted amnesty to 1,000 prisoners, including two soldiers who were convicted in 1983 and 1985 respectively and sentenced to death for subversion
- MARCH 29, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Six eminent Tamil writers appealed to the President...
Six eminent Tamil writers appealed to the President and Tamil Nadu Governor to grant clemency to death row convict [identified only as] Govindasamy who was still awaiting execution in a Coimbatore jail sixteen years after having committed a crime
- FEBRUARY 24, 2000TexasDEATH PENALTY
Betty Lou Beets was executed in Texas, two weeks before...
Betty Lou Beets was executed in Texas, two weeks before her 63rd birthday, for the murder of her fifth husband
- FEBRUARY 18, 2000RussiaDEATH PENALTY
The Chechen rebels passed their second death sentence...
The Chechen rebels passed their second death sentence in a week on Vladimir Putin via the Internet
- FEBRUARY 18, 2000VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Van Trong said around...
Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Van Trong said around 10,000 to 14,000 prisoners were to be freed in amnesties in 2000
- FEBRUARY 2, 2000AlgeriaDEATH PENALTY
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said he might...
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said he might offer amnesty to a radical Moslem guerrilla faction because it had not massacred civilians
- JANUARY 26, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Madras High Court upheld the President's order...
The Madras High Court upheld the President's order rejecting the mercy petition of Govindasamy, who had been sentenced to death for murdering five persons in 1984, holding that there had been no inordinate delay in the disposal of his clemency plea
- JANUARY 18, 2000ArmeniaDEATH PENALTY
Karabakh's president Arkadiy Ghoukassian signed a decree...
Karabakh's president Arkadiy Ghoukassian signed a decree granting amnesty to 16 prisoners following a petition
- JANUARY 5, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Supreme Court of India commuted to life imprisonment...
The Supreme Court of India commuted to life imprisonment the death sentence awarded to Kishori, the infamous "butcher of Trilokpuri" for killing several people during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots
- JANUARY 4, 2000NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo granted a...
The Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo granted a pardon to convicts waiting more than 20 years for execution
- JANUARY 1, 2000ArkansasDEATH PENALTY
Arkansas forbids the execution of the mentally retarded...
Arkansas forbids the execution of the mentally retarded but does not forbid the execution of juvenile offenders