UN. COUNTRIES URGED TO SHED LIGHT ON DEATH PENALTY

Philip Alston, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, urged countries to remove the "cloak of secrecy" surrounding the death penalty and disclose the number of executions and people on death row. Alston  said secrecy undermined safeguards that could prevent errors or abuses and ensure fair and just procedures at all stages.
"There is a need for every country that retains the death penalty to disclose publicly the number of executions, the crimes for which the people have been convicted, and ideally their identities," Alston told a news briefing.
"The argument is simple -- you cannot say that 'we have the death penalty because the majority of people in my country want it' and at the same time not tell the people what the situation is.
"It denies the human dignity of those sentenced, many of whom are still eligible to appeal, and it denies the rights of family members to know the fate of their closest relatives," he said.