Ministry of Justice seeks to ban death penaltyPublication Date：02/02/2010 Taiwan’s government is working to remove the death penalty from the country’s statute books but there is no timetable for achieving this goal, according to Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng Feb. 1. “Abolishing capital punishment is an MOJ policy,” Wang said, adding that this could only be accomplished after society-wide consensus has been reached. According to the MOJ, a 27-strong task force comprising scholars, legal experts and representatives of victims has been established to review the statute and a number of associated issues. Based on the group’s recommendations, the ministry will…

NGOs call for universal abolition of death penalty TAIPEI, Taiwan — Several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Taiwan called on the government and the rest of the world Saturday to take measures to abolish the death penalty, as they marked World and European Day against the Death Penalty, which also falls on Taiwan’s National Day. The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP), Human Rights Education Curriculum and Instruction Team, Humanistic Education Foundation, Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Chang Fo-chuan Human Rights Study Center of Soochow University and the European Economic and Trade Office (EETO) in Taipei made the appeal…

The Judicature is Guilty; the Three is Not Guilty—Let Hsi-chih Trio Try the Justice Continuously! A United Statement issued by The Humanistic Education Foundation, Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Judicial Reform Foundation20070629 It was 16 years ago that the Trial of Hsi-chih Trio had first sparked the enormous attention from every part of the Taiwanese society. In 2003, the three convicts Su Chien-Ho, Liu Bing-Lang and Chuang Lin-Hsun were announced acquitted for the first time by the High Court’s criminal court, but this morning, Jun 29, 2007, the Court has shockingly reversed its judgment to sentence the three with death…

To all that care about the Trial of Hsichih Trio, please come to the open discussion hosts by the Team of Redressing the Trail of Hsichih Trio at 2:00 pm, Sunday July 8, 2007, at Eslite Bookstore (Dun-Nan Store) B2 Media Center , to seat with Professor Lee Mao-Sheng (National Taiwan University Law School), Pro bono Sue Yo-Cheng, and legal medical expert Wu Mu-Zon to analyze the High Court’s verdict on the trial together, unmasking the craft behind the problematic judgment. Information about the Team of Redressing the Trial of Hsichih Trio please go to:

Amnesty International has just learnt that Chong Deshu is at risk of imminent execution in Taiwan. His execution order was reportedly signed by the Minister of Justice on 1 December 2006. This is particularly regrettable given that the Taiwan’s Minister of Justice, Shih Mao-Lin, appears to have signed the execution order just weeks after sending a letter to Amnesty International last month in which he promised to “give serious thought to [Amnesty International’s] suggestion not to carry out any executions over the coming months.” On the eve of the World Day against the Death Penalty, 10 October, Amnesty International had…

Invitation Light up a Life – Praying for a Society Without Death Penalty Four years ago, the Lin brothers from Kaohsiung slaughtered their neighbors leaving one man dead and the other severely injured. They were sentenced to death by the Supreme Court last year. Monday night (12/26), right after Christmas, news of the Lin brothers’ execution arrived, and their family did not receive any notice before the brothers were executed. In 2001, Mr. Chen Ding Nan, the Minister of the Justice Department promised to abolish capital punishment during his term of office. In 2005, when the representatives from the International…

Double Tenth Day is our National Day and meanwhile the World Day Against Death Penalty. After Amnesty International and tens of other international human rights groups formed World Coalition Against the Death Penalty in May 2002, they have decided to make October 10 the World Day Against Death Penalty, entreating the countries that have not yet abolished the death penalty to undertake action in terminating the death penalty. In recent years, Taiwan government has repeatedly declared to list the eradication of death penalty as one of its primary political goals. President Chen Shui-bian also reiterated the same idea when meeting…