The Big Iranian Capital Punishment Post

I would take an awful lot of convincing as to the accuracy of the charges brought against the six hundred plus people that Iran executed in 2011. In my mind it's nothing more than Iran's ongoing reign of terror against its own citizens.

What more convenient way of shutting up political opposition and stifling descent, than to publicly execute such numbers of people only exceeded by China and in a manner of barbarism that is only exceeded by that of Saudi Arabia.

What more convenient way of doing this than to accuse someone of any one of a catalogue of ''crimes'' that carry the death penalty in Iran. Most, to us in the west, might be considered laughable, certainly archaic, but not so I fear, if you are on the receiving end of such charges.

Such a list can be found here, courtesy of Wiki, but you won't find all there, you won't find for instance, ''crimes against chastity,'' a charge brought against Atefeh Sahaaleh, whose accuser was also the judge, jury and executioner. How's that for Iranian justice?
The Execution Of A Teenage Girl. BBC 49 mins.

Nor am I alone in this way of thinking, try this fellow.

Cloaked in a language of morality, capital punishment in Iran is used by the government to prevent threats to the legitimacy of the country’s religion-based political system. In other words, the government conflates threats to the religious order with threats to the political order.

Under Islamic law as applied in the country, a gamut of crimes is punishable by death. Homicide, rape, incest, homosexuality, adultery, and prostitution are capital offenses. Execution sentences are sometimes given out for drug-related crimes. The protesters sentenced to death last week were charged with mohareb, or “taking up arms against God.” freedomhouse.org

Perhaps this latest 'shopped' image ain't quite befitting the tone of the article, I did put it together before I started writing, but there's one thing for sure, the context certainly is. And to borrow a passage from a previous article:

Great satire does just this: it turns reality on its head, making us laugh while, at the same time, revealing some sort of ugly truth that we can't confront without laughing. "Photoshop Justice" Cop Art: The Rise of the Citizen Satirist




I am putting up two versions of the same story, read one or both, or just the offering from the Guardian, but I couldn't let this one sentence pass unnoted, the irony is breathtaking.

Drewery Dyke, of Amnesty International, said that it seems Iran believes its law can be extended to other countries.

Iran to kill Canadian web developer

Claims his software promoted porn
by Edward Berridge
23 Jan 2012

Iran has decided that a Canadian man who visited the country a couple of years ago deserves to die for promoting porn.

Iran's supreme court has upheld the death sentence for a web programmer who faces imminent execution after being found guilty of developing and promoting porn websites.

Saeed Malekpour was visiting the country in October 2008 when he was picked up by plainclothes police and taken to Evin prison in Tehran, where he spent a year in solitary confinement without access to lawyers and without charge.

After a year, Malekpour was wheeled out in front of the television cameras, confessing to a series of "crimes" in connection with a porn website. On the basis of his TV confessions, he was convicted of designing and moderating adult materials online by a court in Tehran.

He later retracted his confessions in a letter sent from prison, in which he said they had "extracted under pressure, physical and psychological torture" and in the face of threats to him and his family.

Malekpour is a permanent resident of Canada. He wrote photo-uploading software which was used by a porn website without his knowledge.

After an international campaign and expert evidence, the supreme court suspended Malekpour's death sentence in June 2011 and ordered a judicial review

According to the Guardian, the view of the court was that it was all fair enough to execute a visitor to their country for something which is not a crime in the country they reside, and in any event they are probably innocent.

Drewery Dyke, of Amnesty International, said that it seems Iran believes its law can be extended to other countries.

Malekpour was charged with the crime of spreading corruption on Earth which is vaguely worded. So, basically, if you do anything that might miff the Iranian top brass and their ideologies, it might not be such a good idea to visit the country which once was a flower of human civilisation. That is unless you want to be strung up in a car park, which we can't imagine is on anyone's agenda. techeye.net

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Iran confirms death sentence for 'porn site' web programmer

Saeed Malekpour faces imminent execution on basis of confessions he retracted in letter, saying they had been beaten out of him
Saeed Kamali Dehghan
18 January 2012

Iran's supreme court has upheld the death sentence for a web programmer who faces imminent execution after being found guilty of developing and promoting porn websites.

Saeed Malekpour was picked up by plainclothes officers in October 2008 and taken to Evin prison in Tehran, where he spent a year in solitary confinement without access to lawyers and without charge.

A year after his arrest, the 35-year-old appeared in a state television programme confessing to a series of crimes in connection with a porn website. On the basis of his TV confessions, he was convicted of designing and moderating adult materials online by a court in Tehran, which handed down death penalty.

Malekpour later retracted his confessions in a letter sent from prison, in which he said they had been made under duress.

According to Malekpour's family, he is a permanent resident of Canada and is a programmer who wrote photo-uploading software that was used by a porn website without his knowledge.

His sister, Maryam Malekpour, said the supreme court had confirmed the death sentence despite many discrepancies in the case. "Saeed's lawyers were told that his death sentence will be issued this week," she said in an interview with the Iranian website Roozonline.

After an international campaign and new expert evidence, the supreme court suspended Malekpour's death sentence in June 2011 and ordered a judicial review.

Speaking to the Guardian, Maryam Nayeb Yazdi, a human rights activist based in Toronto who has followed Malekpour's case closely, said: "Saeed is in imminent danger of execution. He has never been provided with a fair trial at any point during this horrific and twisted ordeal.

"There are various discrepancies in Saeed's case file that were supposed to be reviewed and investigated by the revolutionary court, but the judge ignored the discrepancies and reissued the death sentence anyway.

"Saeed is being used as a scapegoat in a string of political games led by the revolutionary guards."

In his letter, Malekpour said large proportions of his confessions had been "extracted under pressure, physical and psychological torture" and in the face of threats to him and his family.

"Once, in October 2008, the interrogators stripped me while I was blindfolded and threatened to rape me with a bottle of water," he wrote. "While I remained blindfolded and handcuffed, several individuals armed with cables, batons, and their fists struck and punched me. At times, they would flog my head and neck.

"Such mistreatment was aimed at forcing me to write what the interrogators were dictating, and to compel me to play a role in front of the camera based on their scenarios."

Drewery Dyke, of Amnesty International, said: "The death sentence recently upheld in the case of Saeed Malekpour extends the long, cold reach of execution in Iran.

"He is alleged to have created 'pornographic' internet sites and [is accused of] 'insulting the sanctity of Islam', for which he was charged with 'spreading corruption on earth', a vaguely worded charge which attracted the death penalty in Iran.

"The use of vaguely worded charges is not new in Iran, but the allegation that these were carried out on the internet is. It is an unwelcome addition to the catalogue of ways in which Iran finds it can execute its own citizens.

"In advance of March's parliamentary elections, when you would expect the right to exercise one's freedom of expression to increase, this case exemplifies 'innovative' ways as to how Iran is setting itself against access to online information."

Iran has faced international criticism for escalating its use of the capital punishment in recent years. In December, Amnesty warned against "a killing spree of staggering proportions" in the Islamic republic, and said Iran had executed at least 600 people between the beginning of 2011 and the end of November. guardian.co.uk

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Iran criticised over capital punishment 'killing spree'

Amnesty International warns of 'new wave of drug offence executions' in Iran as well as public and secret hangings
Saeed Kamali Dehghan
15 December 2011

Iran has escalated its use of the capital punishment to what has been called "a killing spree of staggering proportions" in an effort to contain drug-related crimes amid concerns about the west's continuing support for the regime's anti-narcotics campaign, according to a report.

Amnesty International warned of "a new wave of drug offence executions" in Iran in a report published on Thursday, which highlights the country's extensive use of the death penalty, especially in a series of public and secret hangings.

According to the report, at least 600 people were executed in Iran from the beginning of 2011 up to the end of November, of which a minimum of 488 executions were carried out for alleged drug offences.

Amnesty said the figures showed a threefold increase in comparison to drug-related executions it documented in 2009. "Members of marginalised groups – including impoverished communities, ethnic minorities suffering discrimination, and foreign nationals, particularly Afghans – are most at risk of execution for drugs offences," it said.

Iran's judicial system has been criticised for holding "grossly unfair trials" in a majority of the cases. Many trials are reported to have been held behind closed doors without the presence of a defence lawyer and families have not been given prior notice of the execution.

Iran is a neighbour to Afghanistan, a leading producer and supplier of the world's drugs. As for the Afghans imprisoned in Iran for drug offences, Amnesty said it appears they are "particularly poorly treated" and as many as 4,000 of them are believed to be on death row.

The sharp rise in the number of drug offence executions in Iran comes at a time when the international community, especially many European countries, including Germany, Belgium, France, Ireland and Britain, continues to provide the Islamic republic with financial and technical support for its anti-drug campaign.

Paradoxically, many of these countries have repeatedly condemned executions in Iran while praising its achievements in the anti-drug field. According to Amnesty, the EU has provided Iran with €9.5m over three years and the UN office for drugs and crime (UNODC) has also given the country £14m since 2005 for its anti-narcotics campaign.

Many activists have raised concerns in recent years about the west's support for Iran. Fazel Hawramy, the editor of Kurdishblogger.com, who has campaigned on the issue, said Iran has received "body scanners, drug detecting kits, drug catalysts, sniffer dogs, vehicles, night-vision devices and radio communication equipment" as part of the west's support despite international sanctions.

"It cannot be ruled out that some of this equipment was used by the police to crush the pro-democracy demonstrations in 2009," wrote Hawramy in an article published by the Guardian earlier this month.

"All countries and international organisations helping the Iranian authorities arrest more people for alleged drugs offences need to take a long hard look at the potential impact of that assistance and what they could do to stop this surge of executions," said Ann Harrison of Amnesty. "They cannot simply look the other way while hundreds of impoverished people are killed each year without fair trials, many only learning their fates a few hours before their deaths."

Activists fear that Iran might have executed political prisoners and activists among those killed secretly for drug offences. In one example in the city of Mashhad, at Vakilabad prison, Amnesty has received reports of secret mass execution involving 89 individuals in August 2010.

Nasrin Sotoudeh is one of a number of activist lawyers who have fallen foul of the Iranian regime for highlighting Iran's high rate of executions.

In recent years, many Iranian activists and lawyers have fallen foul of the Iranian regime for highlighting Iran's high rate of executions. Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent human rights lawyer, is currently kept in Tehran's notorious Evin prison after being arrested in September 2010 for speaking out on the execution of juvenile offenders in Iran.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "The UK has contributed to the UN's Iran country programme, with the majority of funding in recent years being given in 2007. Work funded included a variety of projects including a project to reduce demand for drugs and a project to improve capacity to tackle money-laundering.

"We take the human rights implications of our counternarcotics work very seriously and human rights are a central consideration in all decisions. We are opposed to the use of the death penalty in all circumstances including for drugs offences, and have made our views on this matter absolutely clear. We have regularly raised our concerns with the Iranian regime about its human rights record including its appalling use of the death penalty as evidenced in this Amnesty report.

"More broadly, the illegal drugs trade causes huge damage to the UK and to countries all around the world. The UK's overseas work in tackling this threat involves a range of activities including improving policing and law-enforcement standards and promoting best practice." Guardian

And not another word shall I write until I can get my spell check set back to English en. For reasons best known to itself it has jumped to US en. and no matter what I try, nothing's working. To say it's driving me feckin insane, would be an understatement. It wants me to spell everything with a zed instead of an ess, or should I say, goddamned zee.

Unedited

Fit to Be Killed: Manufacturing Synthetic Sanity on Death Row

Perhaps not essential reading for everyone, but a fair reflection on a society preoccupied with killing.

The odds on being declared mentally unfit to stand trial in the US are about a zillion to one, but on the extremely rare occasion that it does occur, it would appear prosecutors can't live with the notion or the situation.

Psychiatric Medication

It’s only got one side effect

You really must give it a try,

It’s only got one side effect,

It makes you want to die.

Carol Batton.

Fit to Be Killed: Manufacturing Synthetic Sanity on Death Row
by Robert Wilbur
3 December 2011

The gun smoke had barely cleared - leaving six dead and 13 wounded, including Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who had a hole in her head - before federal prosecutors took the first step in hustling the shooter, Jared Lee Laughner, to the death gurney.

Attempting to assassinate a member of Congress is a capital offense, and one of the dead was a federal judge, making Laughner's target practice a second federal capital offense.

Never mind that Laughner had a long history of mental illness; the federal death penalty law allows for a very limited insanity defense, so Laughner's prospects of living to old age might seem dim. Except that his lawyer is Judy Clarke.

Colleagues, writing in posts on the Internet, widely regard Clarke as the best death penalty defense lawyer in the business. She successfully cut a deal with prosecutors to spare the life of the Unabomber, and she successfully kept Susan Smith, the Alabama mom who drowned her two toddlers in the bath tub, off the death gurney. Colleagues say that Clarke is not just philosophically opposed to the death penalty; for her, it is a driving passion.

The first step in Laughner's journey through the legal system was a competency hearing, where the judge weighed testimony from a defense psychiatrist and a prosecution forensic psychologist. Unlike many such hearings, where the experts tailor their testimony to the needs of their legal team, both the defense and prosecution experts agreed that Laughner was a paranoid schizophrenic who was incompetent to stand trial - meaning that he was too crazy to participate in his own defense. The judge remanded Laughner to a federal forensic hospital for months of observation.

Laughner's mental status did not improve - which is hardly surprising since he's been schizophrenic for years - so the docs sought to medicate him. Clarke exploded and sprang like a panther with a string of objections ... Unlike many high-profile lawyers, Clarke does not talk to the press - including Truthout. But her objections to forcibly medicating Laughner with antipsychotic drugs are obvious: they would, first, render him competent to stand trial; and second, lead him down a road that will end not with an injection of an antipsychotic, but rather a lethal cocktail of pentobarbital, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride - which passes for humane execution in the United States.

But can the states or the federal government medicate a person against his or her will? The Supreme Court has ruled that prison docs can forcibly medicate a mentally ill inmate if he "poses a threat to himself or others" or if the medication is in his own best interest. Clearly, a defense lawyer will argue that the purpose of medicating a person in a capital case is not to provide medical care, but to create a state that has been called "synthetic sanity" - a condition of pseudo-sanity that can be palmed off as competency.

Clarke is sure to capitalize on the niche in this ruling, because it's hardly in Laughner's best interest to medicate him so that he can stand trial for his life. It is questionable whether antipsychotic drugs enable the defendant to help his lawyer in an insanity defense. Many psychiatrists feel that these drugs do not attack the core of the illness, but rather make the patient think, act and look "doped up," without addressing the underlying pathological processes. more

Rough Justice Under Rick Perry ''Incendiary'' Documentary

Rough Justice Under Rick Perry

Two Austin filmmakers examine how the Texas governor and bad science abetted the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham.
By Tim Murphy




When MSNBC's Brian Williams asked Rick Perry during a recent GOP debate if he ever worried that his state had executed an innocent man on Perry's watch, the three-term Texas governor didn't hesitate: "No sir, I've never struggled with that at all." Maybe he should have: As Steve Mims and Joe Bailey detail in their new documentary, Incendiary, the state's 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham for the murder of his two children was based in large part on arson science that had been thoroughly rejected by the scientific community—something that Perry had been informed of before the "ultimate justice" was served.

Inspired by David Grann's masterful 2009 New Yorker story about the case, the Austin filmmakers set out to chronicle the flawed forensics behind the execution. They soon found themselves in the middle of a pitched political battle involving Perry's apparent maneuvering to put a thumb on the scales with the Texas Forensic Science Commission. Mims and Bailey spoke recently with Mother Jones about the Willingham case, arson science, and how they navigated the politics of capital punishment.

Mother Jones: What about Grann's story, and the case specifically, made you think "we need to make a film"?

Joe Bailey: I was so fascinated that the law and science and political forces were all animated in a life-and-death story. We saw that as a rare thing, and we thought that a documentary format allowed us the opportunity to explore the case in our own way and illustrate these things that seemed really fascinating—properties of fire, the human dynamic, and the appeals and petitions for clemency. We didn't expect it to erupt into this sort of political theater that it became: Just when we started making our film is when the shakeup of the Texas Forensic Science Commission happened, and it became sort of a dynamic and hilarious—darkly hilarious—struggle to document.



MJ: The centerpiece of the film, the forensics expert who explains why it wasn't arson, is Gerald Hurst. More, including movie trailer and this interview with Rick Perry talking ''Science'' which has to be the biggest contradiction of terms in the whole wide world. More including a trailer from the documentary and this clip of Perry explaining his killing comfort zone.

America is being, blown away, washed away, and not least in Texas, burnt away. But the jury is still out on climate change science. Whatever you say Rick.






A few vids on tricky Ricky and climate change.



''I think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data''

We are seeing weekly, almost daily, scientists coming forward and questioning the original idea that man made global warming is what is causing the climate to change''



''Just because you have a group of scientists who stood up and said, here is the fact; - Galileo got outvoted for a spell''

He doesn't help himself does he? Galileo got outvoted for a spell, yes you fucking moron. Rick Perry, a latter day Roman Inquisition, with all the brains of the first.

Isn't odd that nobody can seem to offer up ''all these scientists'' or in Ricky's case name one? He reminds me of another bunch of batshit crazies that are always quoting ''more and more scientists.'' I was about to (ok I will) link to the crazies of the of the Fred and Wilma, but I can go one better than that. At the bottom of the page there is a video of Arnold Mendez, who I have to tell you, though you might have trouble believing me, is a science instructor at Texas A&M. Funny that Texas should pop its head up again.



Give me that ol' time religion.



“A mind may be a terrible thing to waste, but if you waste 15 million of them, apparently you get Texas.” - Keith Olbermann.







Still with me? Now I wouldn't ask anybody to sit through two hours of Arnold Mendez's Noah’s Ark Seminar, but do try to watch a few minutes of this incredible charlatan sorry, science instructor Texas A&M. Early Man Seminar-Video or Noah’s Ark Seminar-Video

Arnold Mendez has his own tag on this blog, lots of photo's if you can't bear the video. Here is a comment left by a poor soul that had the misfortune to have Mendez as an instructor.

Arnold Mendez is Beyond an Idiot he is dangerous. Let me tell you why. Arnold Mendez taught/teaches almost all the General Chemistry Laboratory Classes at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi. On his own initiative, he added an indoctrination on why Radiological Carbon Dating is a farce. He required the students to go to HIS listed fraud sites and write a report (basically supporting his crap). I was forced to do this for a grade in his class along with almost 1,000 students in a single semester. When this situation was revealed to the University, they did absolutely nothing! Any reputable (REAL) University would have fired ANYONE who did this on the spot. I guess TAMUCC is just another Liberty University. DO NOT ATTEND this university if you want a ACTUAL Science Degree. I am still highly offended by this situation.

Michael Moore: Man Interviewed by Democracy Now! on Troy Davis Execution Inspired My Georgia Boycott

I felt privileged to have the opportunity to listen to this conversation between two giants, both of broadcasting and of compassion. Very moving.

Michael Moore: Man Interviewed by Democracy Now! on Troy Davis Execution Inspired My Georgia Boycott

Michael Moore: ....."Fine, then I’m going to donate whatever royalties I make on this book to The Innocence Project, which is a group who has got many people off death row. And, I’m also going to donate to a voter registration drive." There were 600,000 African Americans in the last election that were not registered to vote in Georgia. Georgia is one of these states that is making it increasingly difficult for people to register to vote, and to vote, on election day. So I will not touch any of the money that this book makes from the state of Georgia. I just don’t want anything to do with it, and I cancelled going there, to Atlanta on my book tour. I won’t go there. I will not participate. And, myself and my website guys, we’ve been talking to the African American students at Morehouse and some of the colleges down there. And there’s a number of people that are going to have a much more organized response to this with the state of Georgia. We’re going to identify those politicians and we are going to identify corporations in Georgia like Home Depot and Coca Cola and others who contribute money to these politicians that allow this death penalty to exist. More at the transcript link.

Quintessential Amy Goodman.

Filmmaker Michael Moore was a part of the global audience tuning in for Democracy Now!'s live coverage from outside the Georgia prison where death row prisoner Troy Davis was executed on September 21. Moore describes how he was inspired by one of the people Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman interviewed on the scene after news of the execution was announced. The man, who introduced himself as Wesley Boyd, immediately called for a boycott of the state of Georgia in response to Davis' execution. Moore says he then asked his publisher to recall all copies of his new book from stores in Georgia, saying, "I don’t want any commerce being done in my name in the state of Georgia." When he was told the books were already on the shelves, Moore decided to donate proceeds from the sales in the state to the Innocence Project and a voter registration drive. He also discusses his previous work on the case of a death row prisoner who shares his name, a topic he writes about in the chapter, "The Execution of Michael Moore," in his new memoir Here Comes Trouble: Stories from My Life.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re on the road in Minneapolis. Today we play the second part of my interview with one of the most famous independent filmmakers in the world, Michael Moore. For more than two decades, Michael has been one of the most politically active, provocative and successful documentary filmmakers in the business. His films include, Roger & Me, Bowling for Columbine, for which he won the Academy Award, Fahrenheit 9/11, SICKO, and Capitalism: A Love Story. He has a new book out, it’s called, Here Comes Trouble: Stories From My Life. You can see part one of the interview with Michael Moore on our website at democracynow.org. After Monday’s program, I had a chance to ask Michael Moore about the execution of Troy Anthony Davis that took place on Wednesday, September 21. The state of Georgia killed Davis despite significant doubt about his guilt in the killing of a white, off-duty police officer, Mark MacPhail, in 1989. Seven of the nine non-police witnesses in the case later recanted or changed their testimony, and there was no physical evidence linking Troy Davis to the crime. Democracy Now! was there, reporting live from the death row prison grounds in Jackson, Georgia when Troy Davis was executed. Davis will be buried on Saturday in Savannah, Georgia, where he grew up. I began my interview with Michael Moore by playing a clip of Troy Davis speaking during an Amnesty International conference call in 2009. Transcript

Death Penalty is Pro-Life: Baptist Albert Mohler Talks Utter Shite

And Genesis chapter nine, isn't a goddamned handbook for twenty first century living. These fuckwits would bring back stoning given half a chance.

President Of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Says Death Penalty Is About Affirming The Sanctity Of Life
By Zaid Jilani
Sep 23, 2011

This week marked the execution of Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis, whose case was considered by many to be deeply flawed. Davis’ execution has served as a wake-up call to the inequities and dangers of capital punishment in the United States.

Yet one influential religious leader appears to have been unphased by the global uproar over Davis’ death and critical examinations of the death penalty. Mohler argued in a Sept. 22 podcast that the death penalty is actually pro-life in a way, because it is intended to “affirm the value [and] sanctity of every single human life“:

A Southern Baptist seminary president says that according to the Bible, capital punishment is pro-life. “The death penalty is not about retribution,” Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said in a podcast Sept. 22. “It is first of all about underlining the importance of every single human life.”

Mohler, who has a Ph.D. in theology, said in Genesis 9, where capital punishment is mandated for murder, “it is precisely because the taking of one human life by another means that the murderer has effectively, morally and theologically, forfeited his own right to live.” “The death penalty is intended to affirm the value [and] sanctity of every single human life, and thus by the extremity of the penalty to make that visible and apparent to all,” Mohler said.

Mohler is an influential figure in Baptist circles in the United State. As he notes on his website, he is president of the “flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest seminaries in the world” and is a board member of the right-wing Focus on the Family. His position on the death penalty stands in stark contrast to that of many other Christian leaders. For example, the Catholic Church, which represents the largest Christian denomination in America, has been generally opposed to the practice since Pope John Paul II declared so in 1995. - Think Progress

No Death Penalty Logos

No Death Penalty logos, please utilise if you wish.

Staking a Life by Christopher Hitchens

Hitchens is such a sweet writer on all manner of subjects, but now as then I could never come to terms with his alignment with Bush and the Neocons. Even though he talks about it in the interview below, his reasoning is still totally beyond me.

Can't have everything I guess.

For those that have never seen, or known of, Jeremy Paxman's recent interview of Hitchens, you will find it embedded below.

Staking a Life by Christopher Hitchens

Arthur Koestler opened his polemic against capital punishment in Britain by saying that the island nation was that quaint and antique place where citizens drove on the left hand side of the road, drank warm beer, made a special eccentricity of the love of animals, and had felons “hanged by the neck until they are dead.” Those closing words—from the formula by which a capital sentence was ritually announced by a heavily bewigged judge—conveyed in their satisfyingly terminal tones much of the flavor and relish of the business of judicially inflicted death.

The last hanging in Britain occurred in 1964. Across the channel in France, the peine de mort was done away with by the Mitterrand administration in the early 1980s. So the two great historic homelands of theatrical capital punishment—conservative Britain with its “bloody code” and exemplary gibbetings described by Dickens and Thackeray, and Jacobin France with its humanely utilitarian instrument of swift justice for feudalism promoted by the good Doctor Guillotin—have both dispensed with the ultimate penalty. The reasoning was somewhat different in each case. In Britain there had been considerable queasiness as a consequence of a number of miscarriages of justice that had led to the hanging of the innocent. In France, in the memorable words of Mitterrand’s Minister of Justice, M. Robert Badinter, the scaffold had come to symbolize “a totalitarian concept of the relationship between the citizen and the state.”

Since then no country has been allowed to apply for membership or association with the European Union without, as a precondition, dismantling its apparatus of execution. This has led states like Turkey to forego what was once a sort of national staple. The United Nations condemns capital punishment—especially for those who have not yet reached adulthood—and the Vatican has come close to forbidding if not actually anathematizing the business. This leaves the United States of America as the only nation in what one might call the West, that does not just continue with the infliction of the death penalty but has in the recent past expanded its reach. More American states have restored it in theory and carried it out in practice, and the last time the Supreme Court heard argument on the question it was to determine whether capital punishment should be inflicted for a crime other than first-degree murder (the rape of a child being the suggested pretext for extension).

To be in the company of Iran and China and Sudan as a leader among states conducting execution—and to have pioneered the medicalized or euthanized form of it that is now added to the panoply of gassing, hanging, shooting, and electrocution and known as “lethal injection”—is to have invited the question why. Why is the United States so wedded to the infliction of the death penalty? I have heard a number of suggested answers: two in particular have some superficial plausibility. The first is an old connection between executions and racism, and the second is the relatively short distance in time that separates the modern U.S. from the days of frontier justice.

Now it is true that you are very much more likely to be put to death by the state if you are a black person who has murdered a white person than you are if that condition is stated in reverse. Indeed, it was this disparity among others that led to the practice being suspended so widely for so long. And it is also true that the business of execution is carried on more enthusiastically and more systematically in the states of the former Confederacy. On both the occasions when I myself have visited death row, once in Mississippi and once in Missouri, the historic Dixie stench that surrounded the proceedings was absolutely unmistakable. Bill Clinton’s 1992 execution of the mentally disabled black man Ricky Ray Rector—at a strategic moment in the evolution of the red-faced governor of Arkansas into the trustworthy figure of an “electable” neoliberal— was the closest thing to a straight-out lynching that has been seen in the past generation. But traditional bigotries do not explain why the penalty has lately been restored in New York and California, and why a Federal execution “facility” has been built in Terre Haute, Indiana, birthplace of Eugene Debs (and used as a launching pad from which to kick the ultrawhite Timothy McVeigh off the planet).

Our historic proximity to the wild-and-woolly days of yore won’t quite elucidate the phenomenon either. Europe in the last few decades saw a very great deal more violence and chaos on its own soil than any American has ever had to witness on home turf, even at Antietam or in the Wilderness campaign; yet there isn’t a gallows left between Lisbon and the Urals. “Terrorism”—the gravamen of the charge against McVeigh and the excuse for Clinton’s post-Oklahoma City “Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act”—doesn’t quite cut it either. Israel is much more frequently and savagely hit by indiscriminate attacks on its civilians, and it does not have resort to the death penalty.

It took me some time to notice where this process of elimination was leading me. For example, as I once found myself arguing, the state of Michigan has a provision in its founding constitution that forbids capital punishment. Yet high as the rate of violent crime is in Michigan, it is not noticeably worse than in neighboring and somewhat comparable Illinois (where former Governor George Ryan was not long ago compelled to impose a moratorium on execution, it having been discovered that there were more innocent than guilty people on the state’s death row. You know how that can upset people….) Thus, as I was going on to argue, there is no reason to suppose that the death penalty is a deterrent. And then it hit me. I had been hammering on an open door. Nobody had been bothering to argue that the rope or the firing squad, or the gas chamber, or “Old Sparky” the bristle-making chair, or the deadly catheter were a deterrent. The point of the penalty was that it was death. It expressed righteous revulsion and symbolized rectitude and retribution. Voila tout! The reason why the United States is alone among comparable countries in its commitment to doing this is that it is the most religious of those countries. (Take away only China, which is run by a very nervous oligarchy, and the remaining death-penalty states in the world will generally be noticeable as theocratic ones.) Go to page three.

For further links, see comments.

How to Kill a Human Being

Former Tory MP, Michael Portillo, wouldn't be someone I would normally have much time for, but watching what he put himself through in researching a more humane method of execution, I have to say my respect for the fellow went from minimal to moderate.

The only previos part that I can remember with any clarity, is what is depicted in this last segment of the program. Particularly what the ''expert on capital punishment'' has to say starting from the five minute mark, and Portillo's counter-argument I must add.

And what he does have to say, I think reflects tellingly on the motives of pro-death penalty advocates in the US. It's not justice they are looking for, it's vengeance.


Part 5 of 5 - How to Kill a Human Being - BBC Horizon

Former Conservative MP, Michael Portillo pushes his body to the brink of death in an investigation into the science of execution.

As the American Supreme Court examines whether the lethal injection is causing prisoners to die in unnecessary pain Michael sets out to find a solution which is fundamentally humane. To do so he examines the key methods of execution available today: he discovers why convicts can catch on fire in the electric chair, learns how easy it is to botch a hanging and inhales a noxious gas to experience first hand the terror of the gas chamber.

Armed with some startling evidence Michael considers a completely new approach. Will it be the answer? There is only one way of finding out - to experience it himself.

Part one here if you're interested. h/t CooCurrent for the upload.

Troy Davis Execution: An Angry Black Man Speaks

Gawjah Justice: Haul That Gurney in Here and Let's Kill Us a Niggrah!
by thegrowlingwolf
September 22, 2011

The White Man Teaching the Black Man a Lesson

All over the State of Gawjah today Whites are celebrating the death of Troy Davis. Davis's last words were still defending his "innocence" and wishing peace on the MEN who killed him. As most White folks know, all criminals claim they're innocent. Especially those on the many Death Rows around this great Land of the FREE and Home of the Brave! That is they claim they are innocent unless they are mentally retarded and don't even have the cognizance to even realize where they are and what they've done and what's going to happen to them.

The son and brother of Officer McPhail, the off-duty White cop the White Gawjuh justice system ruled Troy Davis killed, was present at this killing. Sitting right there up front, front row center on the killing floor--thrilled in their souls that they were getting closure--I imagine them sitting there delighting in watching this Black man die. Sentiment: "Hell, yes, that god-damn nigger killed a good White man, an officer of the law, and he definitely, guilty or not, deserved to die. We the good White people of Gawjah feel sure in our White hearts, Office McPhail is celebrating this secular victory up in Heaven at the righthand of the Savior and his Big Daddy Father, that triumvirate toasting with goblets of Heavenly firmament the good White Christians of Gawjah's elimination of this Black murderer. Why this savage doesn't even deserve to be called Black, nope, he's a niggrah pure and simple, a murdering niggrah, his black definitely the color of evil, and black is the color of all savage demons. Praise the vengeful Lord. Praising the vengeful and chastising Lord God of the blessed White race and raising shouts of hallelujah as we watch this god-damn nigger's soul being shoveled into the furnaces of Holy Hell!"

We the People of the USA live in a divided state. Union versus Confederacy. Yankees versus Rebels. States Rights (including the right to own slaves) versus Constitutional Rights.

The Republicans represent the Confederacy. The Republicans represent the Plantation system of Fascist governing. The Democrats do not any longer know what the hell they represent. It seems to the general public they also represent the Confederacy. They also represent slavery (cheap labor). They also represent the Fascist form of Corporate/Military rule.

As I'm sitting here typing this, someone here in New York City gets shot and killed every 18 hours. When you project that statistic worldwide--DEATH never takes a holiday.

Governor Rick Perry, if you believe the Death Penalty ritual of killing mostly Blacks and Latinos and poor retarded people of all races, and even women is good for the morale of vengeful Whites, is your candidate for President..... conclusion

Troy Davis: A Testament to Barbarity

I am posting this only for reasons of posterity, another outlet, that this testament to barbarity be preserved.

TroyDavis: Eye Witness account of Troy Davis Execution
SAVANNAH, Ga. --
September 22, 2011

WSAV News 3's JoAnn Merrigan was a media monitor for Troy Davis's execution. Her responsibility was to witness the initial stages of the execution.

This is her relayed account of what happened.

Prison officials arrived to take me to the prison at 5:45pm. I arrived at the State Prison in Jackson, Georgia at 5:50pm.

At 6:02, I was taken into a waiting room where I stayed for around 4 hours with no knowledge of what was going on. Every so often, someone would come in and say the execution had been delayed.

Around 9:00pm, I went to the bathroom and heard some people talking.

Around 10:20pm, an official came and brought me out into a hallway where I was told to stop. Three men, including the warden, were walking around. Attorney General Sam Olens was also there. He walked quickly one way, then the other. Then the prison official said it was time to go around 10:25pm.

I got into a car with three attorneys from the Attorney General's office, and rode along with a caravan of cars to a building. The drive took around two minutes, and we arrived at 10:27pm.
I walked into the room and sat in the front row, about a dozen people were also in the room. The room had a window showing the execution chamber.

Two men came in, the warden and another man.

Then five guards escorted in Troy Davis and laid him down on the gurney. He appeared calm at this time.

The five guards began methodically strapping in Davis. They started with each foot first, then each knee, then each arm.

A fifth strap was laid across Davis's shoulders.

At this point, Davis picked up his head to look around the room. I was about four to five feet from the window.

Two women then came in with heart monitoring equipment and strapped it to his chest. No one in the room spoke.

The two women then put a syringe into each arm, the left first then the right. Long tubes connected the needles through two holes in the cement wall. I understand that tubes were connected to two intravenous drips containing the chemicals.

At this point, Davis raised his head for a second time to look at the room beyond the window.
Two guards then placed surgical tape around Davis's fingertips, strapping them to the gurney.
The bed was then raised to an upright angle, facing the crowd. I could see him clearly, being only four to five feet from the window.

I then moved to the back of the room. At this point, the family of Officer Mark MacPhail, including Billy MacPhail the brother, and Mark MacPhail, Jr., the son, entered the room and sat in the front row. There were also other witnesses, totaling eight people, who also sat in the front row.
Defense attorney's Jason Ewart and Thomas Ruffin came in and sat in the second row with others.

At this point, other media witnesses were brought in and they sat in the back row with me. A total of around 30 people were in the room.

About 15 minutes had passed since I first entered the room.

A microphone was turned on and the warden said, “We are here for the execution of Troy Anthony Davis with all witnesses present." He also asked that the witnesses remain silent. He then asked Davis if he had anything he wanted to say. Davis replied, "yes."

Davis said, "I want to address the members of the MacPhail family. Despite the situation we are all in, you think I’ve killed your father, your brother, your husband, I’m not the person, I’m innocent, what happened was not my fault, I did not have a gun that night, I did not shoot your family member. I’m so sorry for your loss, I really am. I hope you will finally see the truth and others will, too. To my family and supporters, thank you for your prayers and continue to pray. For those about to take my life, I forgive you. God bless you all."

The warden then read the death warrant. Davis looked out at the crowd, and though he seemed calm, it did appear he was somewhat scared.

The room was very quiet when the injections began.

First, Davis received an injection of pentobarbital, a sedative. Second, he received an injection of pancuronium bromide, a muscle relaxer. Lastly, he was injected with potassium chloride to induce cardiac arrest.

After a short amount of time, Davis yawned then closed his eyes.

They room was quiet and all I heard was my pencil moving over paper.
A woman then came in and checked his eyes, then there was a "beep." Mark MacPhail, Jr. was leaning towards the window.

The microphone was turned on again, and two doctors entered the room wearing long white coats. One doctor checked his pulse and placed a stethoscope on his chest. Then the second doctor performed the same procedure. At the end, the second doctor looked at the first and nodded his head.

The warden then said, "At 11:08 September 21st, the court ordered execution of Troy Davis was carried out in accordance with the laws of Georgia."

I was escorted out of the room and saw a black Butts County coroner’s van of outside the building.

About 30 to 35 minutes had passed by the time I entered the room, until the time Davis was pronounced dead. source

h/t http://youknowwhokilledyoudontyou.blogspot.com/

For-Profit Company Oversaw Davis's Execution, Had Prompted Complaint for Illegal Purchase of Lethal Injection Drugs

Jesus H Christ, what a fucking cesspit of a country.

For-Profit Company Oversaw Davis's Execution, Had Prompted Complaint for Illegal Purchase of Lethal Injection Drugs

The tragic debacle that has been the Troy Davis execution has another dimension to it beyond racism, classism, and the miscarriage of justice in a flawed system. That dimension is capitalism: specifically, the corporatization of the prison-industrial complex. If you've noticed some angry tweets directed at @correcthealth in the past day, that's because "CorrectHealth" is the Orwellian-named "medical company" that, according to the ACLU, "oversees all executions in Georgia" including last night's. It is a for-profit company that stands to make a pile money off of every execution.

Furthermore, earlier this year the Southern Center for Human Rights filed this complaint against CorrectHealth due to the shady methods used to obtain the drug that is used in lethal injections. From their press release:

Today, the Southern Center for Human Rights (“SCHR”) filed a complaint with the Georgia Composite Medical Board against Carlo Anthony Musso, MD, seeking the revocation or suspension of his medical license based upon his involvement in illegally importing and distributing the drug, sodium thiopental, to be used in carrying out the death penalty.

The law, both federal and state, is clear: no person or organization may import or distribute a controlled substance without first registering with both the Georgia Board of Pharmacy and the federal Drug Enforcement Authority (DEA) of the Attorney General. The complaint filed today presents evidence that Carlo Anthony Musso, M.D., owner and operator of the Georgia-based companies CorrectHealth and Rainbow Medical Associates, had no such licenses when he imported sodium thiopental into the United States and distributed it to the departments of corrections in Kentucky and Tennessee....

Since the spring of 2010, there has been a nationwide shortage of sodium thiopental, one of three drugs commonly used by states to carry out executions. Because sodium thiopental is necessary to eliminate the pain that would otherwise be experienced by administration of the other two drugs, the shortage of sodium thiopental places the states’ ability to carry out executions in jeopardy. As a result, those states that used the drug as the critical anesthetic to carry out a sentence of death by lethal injection scrambled to find alternative sources.

The Georgia Department of Corrections (“DOC”) secured its supply from a London-based pharmaceutical supplier (Dream Pharma) that operated out of the back of a driving school. In March, 2011, the Drug Enforcement Authority (DEA) seized Georgia’s supply amid questions about how the drug was imported into the United States.

Dr. Musso’s company, CorrectHealth, also purchased and imported a supply of sodium thiopental from Dream Pharma. In addition to importing this drug, Dr. Musso sold his supply to Kentucky and Tennessee, two other states desperate to obtain the highly sought-after sodium thiopental. Just as the DEA seized the drugs purchased by the Georgia DOC, the DEA followed Dr. Musso’s unregistered sales of the illegally obtained sodium thiopental and seize the drugs purchased by Kentucky and Tennessee.

One of the reasons there's a shortage of this drug is because while its primary Stateside supplier remains low on supply, the UK has forbidden legal exports which may be used in executions. Why? They think it's inhumane--as should we. This is yet another reason not to execute our own citizens, even if it means--gasp!--another corporation turns less of a profit.

CorrectHealth's contact page is here.

Here's a video of Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz talking about the shortage of drugs and how it illuminates the fact that the death penalty in the US is a "system in chaos." Alternet

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Troy Davis Judicially Murdered in Georgia USA

I followed the live Democracy Now broadcast until around 8:00 EDT - 01:00 BST, about an hour into the Supreme Court's delay. I went to bed feeling fairly confident that Troy Davis would still be alive when I got up this morning. How wrong I was. It appears justice, just like human decency, is nowhere to be found in Georgia USA.

The Atlanta Journal has the story.

AP reporter witnesses the barbarism.

The Long, Murderous Arm of the Law Has Killed Troy Davis

God bless America.




Opinion: Amy Goodman.

Troy Davis, victim of judicial lynching

Troy Davis faces execution on 21 September, despite seven of nine non-police witnesses recanting. Where is the justice in that?

Death brings cheers these days in America. more

Troy Davis Denied Clemency

Update: Democracy Now watch.

Troy Davis Denied Clemency By Georgia Pardons Board

ATLANTA — Georgia's board of pardons rejected a last-ditch clemency bid from Troy Davis on Tuesday, one day before his scheduled execution, despite support from figures including an ex-president and a former FBI director for the claim that he was wrongly convicted of killing a police officer in 1989.

Davis is scheduled to die Wednesday at 7 p.m. EDT by injection for killing off-duty Savannah officer Mark MacPhail, who was shot dead while rushing to help a homeless man being attacked. It is the fourth time in four years that Davis' execution has been scheduled by Georgia officials.
ATLANTA -- Georgia's pardons board rejected Tuesday a last-ditch plea for clemency from death row inmate Troy Davis despite high-profile support for his claim that he was wrongly convicted of killing a police officer in 1989.

The decision appeared to leave Davis with little chance of avoiding his execution date. Defense attorney Jason Ewart has said that the pardons board was likely Davis' last option, but he didn't rule out filing another legal appeal.

"Justice was finally served for my father," said Mark MacPhail Jr., who was an infant when his father was gunned down. "The truth was finally heard."

Kim Davis, the inmate's sister, declined immediate comment on the decision.

Georgia's State Board of Pardons and Paroles said it considered "the totality of the information presented" before deciding to deny clemency.

"The Board members have not taken their responsibility lightly and certainly understand the emotions attached to a death penalty case," the five-person panel said in a statement.

The board's statement noted that it has commuted three death penalty sentences since 2000 and "thoroughly deliberated" the Davis case.

Davis' lawyers have long argued Davis was a victim of mistaken identity. But prosecutors say they have no doubt that they charged the right person with the crime.

MacPhail was shot to death Aug. 19, 1989, after coming to the aid of Larry Young, a homeless man who was pistol-whipped in a Burger King parking lot. Prosecutors say Davis was with another man who was demanding that Young give him a beer when Davis pulled out a handgun and bashed Young with it. When MacPhail arrived to help, they say Davis had a smirk on his face when he shot the officer to death.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who plans a noon EDT vigil at the state prison in Jackson on Wednesday, said he's asking his supporters to urge the pardons board to reconsider. And he is also asking Chatham County District Attorney Larry Chisolm to block the execution.

"This is probably the most egregious injustice I have seen in a long time, to set a precedent that a man can be executed when the evidence against him has mostly been recanted," said Sharpton. "It's unthinkable."

Chisolm has said it's unlikely he will seek to intervene.

"What stands between the defendant and execution is the Board of Pardons and Paroles," Chisolm said on Friday. "And I think whatever decision they make in the case will probably be the final decision."

Davis has captured worldwide attention because of the doubt his supporters have raised over whether he killed MacPhail. Several of the witnesses who helped convict Davis at his 1991 trial have backed off their testimony or recanted. Others who did not testify say another man at the scene admitted to the shooting.

The U.S. Supreme Court even granted Davis a hearing last year to prove his innocence, the first time it had done so for a death row inmate in at least 50 years. But in that June 2010 hearing, Davis couldn't convince a federal judge to grant him a new trial. The Supreme Court did not review his case. Federal appeals courts and the Georgia Supreme Court have upheld his conviction, leaving the parole board as his last chance.

MacPhail's relatives said they were relieved by the decision. "That's what we wanted, and that's what we got," said Anneliese MacPhail, the victim's mother. "We wanted to get it over with, and for him to get his punishment."

Amnesty International USA director Larry Cox called the pardon board's decision "unconscionable."

"Should Troy Davis be executed, Georgia may well have executed an innocent man and in so doing discredited the justice system," Cox said.

Amnesty International and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People have scheduled an 11 a.m. EDT press conference on the case and a 7 p.m. demonstration on the steps of the Georgia Capitol.

Among those who supported Davis' clemency request are former president Jimmy Carter and Pope Benedict XVI. A host of conservative figures have also advocated on his behalf, including former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr, ex-Justice Department official Larry Thompson and one-time FBI Director William Sessions.

Davis' legal team said in a statement it was "incredibly disappointed" by the board's decision.

"The death penalty should not be exercised where doubt exists about the guilt of the accused. The Board did not follow that standard here," their statement said. "The state's case against Mr. Davis, based largely on discredited eyewitness testimony and an inaccurate ballistics report, cannot resolve the significant, lingering doubts that exist here." Huffpo

Troy Davis: What is it About Americans and Punishment?

In a line taken from the article text that I have used for the header, I omitted the ''us'' for I am in no doubt the question at hand is asked far more frequently around the world than it ever might be in the one nation under God.

In metaphorical speak, it seems a lifetime ago that I first started to blog about Troy Davis' impending execution, but that was only four short years ago, short years for me, but I fear not such short years for Davis.

I have been keeping track of this story as Davis faces yet another date set for his execution, or state sponsored murder, dependant on your point of view. Keeping track, but holding off on reporting until Davis received a further stay or suffered the ultimate and final indignity and was put to death by the state of Georgia. A state I must add, whose backwardness is only equal to its intransigence in righting the wrongs of its viscous and flawed justice system. (See Genarlow Wilson in the sidebar.)

Holding off that is, until this article came along, an article that gives a few home truths and questions the questionable ethics of this jaundiced country and its equally jaundiced people. If indeed not shameless, callous and pitiless people as we all witnessed recently, the abhorrent spectacle regarding Rick Perry's unenviable record of putting to death by the state of Texas, an equally unenviable number of people.

Film noir: Troy Davis and the American Way
By Pubali Ray Chaudhuri
September 19, 2011

In another few days yet one more miserable insect—pardon me, where are my manners? One more black man will be put to death by the greatest country with the greatest justice system in the world, the U.S. of A.

And here I am, yet another writer, meditating—for what else can one do?—on this very commonplace event in the history of the U.S. justice system, the impending execution of a black man, Troy Davis, and on what his approaching fate says about us as a people.

What is it about us Americans and punishment? Certainly we continue overwhelmingly to support the death penalty, even though the days are past when men and women, in their thousands, thronged to watch an end be put to the life of a fellow human being. Then is ours now a secret vice, like onanism? Perhaps we derive a secret pleasure from the very idea of punishment, even though modern standards of civilization, a plague upon them, forbid us to gloat openly as of yore, have picnics and parties as we used to do, you know, a nice day out with the wife and kiddies? Teach the little ones first-hand about how the wheels of justice turn and how to enjoy the spectacle of strange fruit suspended, quivering, from a gibbet?

But I overlook our Puritan ancestors and their legacy that taught us how both our vices and pleasures must be decently straitjacketed, garbed decorously in the raiment of necessity and virtue. While the hand beneath tugs urgently at blood-engorged genitalia and tiny beads of perspiration gather on the brow in anticipation of the approaching climax, the eyes remain grave, the lips continue to utter pieties, the upper body remains decorously and even pompously still. So it is with the pleasures of many of us in this greatest of nations; so it is, too, with our secret vices. For what are vices but pleasures that we are fain to hide? And what a pleasure it is, isn’t it, to punish another—how our scalps tighten, how the blood surges to our vitals, how our very nerves twitch and tingle at the prospect of approaching punishment as at the prospect of approaching orgasm. There isn’t, one would think, that much of a gulf between enjoyment and sin, is there? No wonder so many of us are so suspicious of pleasure. Our Puritan ancestors taught us well; they knew what they were talking about.

It might surprise us, were we to dwell on the connection, how much of what we love and honour flows directly from the suffering of others. As Americans, we honour soldiers as “heroes,” even though these men and women set out to invade the lands of those who never did us any harm, and to whom the words “911” mean exactly nothing at all. Yet the more innocent people we kill and maim and incinerate, the higher rises our respect, nay, our adoration, of our beloved troops, and the more overblown and grotesque our pride in ourselves as a “great nation” “the leader of the free world” “a beacon of democracy” and any amount of similarly clichéd balderdash one cares to trump up.

Yet in this great bastion nation beacon shining light of liberty and justice and freedom for all, we’ve maintained one of our time-honoured American traditions—the punishment, by execution or imprisonment—of the poor, especially of the non-white poor, and most especially of the African-American poor. We don’t feel quite American, if you know what I mean, our red blood corpuscles don’t thump and pulse with quite as much vigour, unless we can sacrifice at frequent intervals a poor and/or black man at the altar of our criminal justice system.

Criminal justice system? Now there’s a Freudian slip for you. Never mind that grave doubts continue to exist about Troy Davis’ guilt. Never mind that appeals for the commutation of his sentence have poured in from as far away as Europe and South Africa, from individuals as distinguished as Nobel Peace Laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu, Ravi Shankar and Sister Helen Prejean, and legal experts such as William Sessions. The NAACP points to “overwhelming evidence that calls into question his guilt, and repeated attempts at justice.” Amnesty International “believes that this is one in a long line of cases in the USA that should give even ardent supporters of the death penalty pause for thought. For it provides further evidence of the danger, inherent in the death penalty, of irrevocable error.” Never mind all of that; we are still the country that values freedom and justice above all else, especially when we are about exercise that freedom to execute a black and economically underprivileged man.

No poor black man in this country can take the life of a white individual, even if in self-defence, and expect to live free. But we have progressed further. A poor black man who comes under suspicion of having killed a white man can expect the great ponderous machinery of the law to begin rolling inexorably against him until his life or his spirit or both have been crushed under its weight. Troy Davis is only one black man who is finding this out the hard way. There have been many before him; no doubt there will be many after.

But let us see if we can turn off our seemingly endless fount of pious cant for a moment and make room for a few ugly truths. Truths indeed so hideous in their festering, gibbering, pus-filled forms that veil them and explain them away as we might, their loathsome stink yet creeps forth abroad. *This is a country built on racism and genocide, on the most massive land grab in history and on the trafficking of human souls and bodies for profit as though they were so many pounds of potatoes. A nation built on two of the most horrendous crimes in history cannot escape that legacy unless it first faces up to it. And that we have never done; that we shall never do. We will never admit that a country that prides itself on freedom was founded on that same freedom being denied to others. We will not admit that we have kept the original owners of this land, the Native people, as prisoners and forced them to beg for the barest of rights on their own soil.* We do not speak of the silent, unacknowledged apartheid that rests upon the reluctance of so many millions of white people to interact with black people, to befriend them, to live side-by-side with them, to accord them the respect and honour due to equal human beings.

Let us face for once what so much of white America truly feels in its innermost heart but cannot admit because such an admission is no longer socially acceptable. But just because a thing is no longer spoken of aloud does not mean it has ceased to exist in the hearts of men and women. White America (or a significant part of it) distrusts, despises and dislikes black America, thinking of the latter as a horde of freeloaders, drug-pushers, and hustlers, as cutthroats waiting to relieve you of your wallet or your life on a dark night or on a lonely street—in short, as a dark, amorphous, undifferentiated mass in which no trace of humanity is any longer distinguishable and which can therefore evoke no spark of reciprocal human sympathy to lighten its formlessness. Once we understand this prevailing attitude of one race towards another, it becomes a lot easier to grasp why so many black men are imprisoned for long periods for minor offenses and why so many are put to death in spite of their guilt being less than certain.

There you have a very real, and very seldom acknowledged reason, why Troy Davis, an African-American, has been held in prison for over 20 years and now may suffer the ultimate brutality of having his life snuffed out for a crime he may well never have committed. There you have the reason why this man, for whom no physical evidence exists linking him to the crime, and in whose case key witnesses have since recanted, is still to die. And why Johannes Mehserle, a white police officer who shot an unarmed black man, Oscar Grant, in broad daylight as the victim lay face down, surrounded by law enforcement, in the presence of numerous witnesses, walked free in a few months. This is the American reality four decades after the Civil Rights Movement.

It is necessary that a few black men die every so often for our pleasure, so that we can continue to beat our collective ego-chests and congratulate ourselves on justice being done, even as we perpetuate our long tradition of paradoxes that seem to define us as a people: the “greatest” country in the world is nothing but its greatest terror and bully; freedom is predicated (literally) on the legacy of slavery and domination, what we view as justice is too often its horrific miscarriage.

Troy Davis must die so that our illusions about ourselves may live.

Let me make a humble suggestion. If we are so proud of what we are doing to Davis, why not let this noble deed be performed in the open, as in the good old days? If justice is all that’s being done, then the more people to witness it the better, right? Don’t we want to bask in the admiration of the international community, whose leaders we proudly claim to be? Surely they can learn from our example. Once exposed to the awesome and solemn spectacle—the might of American justice, they may well feel inspired to rush off and adopt our ways themselves. At the very least, such a spectacle would be educational. Besides, as I have said earlier, we just like vengeance, or, as we like to call it, justice, in this country. Yes, sir, we’re great sticklers for doing the right thing here. A public execution might even improve tourism, and it would certainly be a fun show, and we could all look as solemn as we liked at the regrettable necessity that compels us to perform and/or witness this very sad deed.

How about it, then? Take this show on the road, but stop calling it justice. Call it what it is; a party—a lynching party.

Bring the kids.

Pubali Ray Chaudhuri is an Associate Editor of Intrepid Report. ICH

In view of the last paragraph you may think I composed this for the post, but it was in fact for something or other previous.

* My highlight: I had occasion to discuss these points with an American, who was no fool by the way, I was a guest writer on his blog for a while. And I wasn't ''having a go'' at him, mentioning rather matter of factly, that the Yanks were the new Brits, the new warrior race, and whereas we Brits had built an empire on genocide and dispossession, likewise had Americans built a country on the same principals. Which I have to say, didn't seem to go down awfully well with the chap, I must have touched a nerve. He preferring to use the term colonisation or some such excuse of a word.

Previous: A road to Damascus moment

New Jersey To Become A permanent Member Of The Civilised World. Death Penalty To Go

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Let's face it, if "a bullet in the back of the head" Russia can do away with capital punishment then anyone can.
On a personal note I would prefer a quick one to the noggin than to face what in some circumstances might be four or five decades in some American hell hole of a prison.

New Jersey is preparing to scrap the death penalty next week, becoming the first U.S. state to legislatively abolish capital punishment since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated it in 1976.

State legislators will vote on Monday and Thursday on bills that would end the death penalty and substitute life without parole for the most serious crimes. Lawmakers say the measure is likely to be approved.

A legislative commission recommended in January that the death penalty be abolished, saying there was no evidence it deterred the most serious crimes. Life without parole cost less, and capital punishment is "inconsistent with evolving standards of decency," the commission said.more

International Pressure And A Stay Of Execution Halts Iranian Hanging. But Not For long

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I previously reported that, International Pressure Halts Iranian Hanging. Of whom you might ask? of a boy who was thirteen years old when the alleged dastardly deeds took place.

Well it seems international pressure and a stay don't count for much in Iran, they have hanged the poor sod.

An Iranian man has been hanged for rape despite his alleged victims withdrawing their accusations and a judicial review being ordered into the sentence.

Makwan Mouloudzadeh, 20, had been found guilty of raping three teenage boys when he was 13 years old.

The hanging took place on Wednesday morning at a prison in Kermanshah province in western Iran.

Human rights groups say international law strictly forbids execution of child offenders, even after they become 18.

"On 11 November the head of the justice administration of Kermanshah received an order from the judiciary head, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, to stop the verdict being carried out," the lawyer, Saeed Eqbali, was quoted as saying. more