Countries continue to sentence mentally disabled people to death

Japan, Pakistan and the US all guilty of violating 'international standards'.

Bangkok:  Japan, Pakistan and the United States continue to sentence to death or execute people with mental disabilities in clear violation of international standards, Amnesty International (AI) said Friday.

“International standards clearly require that those suffering from mental and intellectual disabilities should not face the ultimate punishment. But in many cases disabilities are not identified during criminal processes,” Audrey Gaughran, AI’s global issues director, said in a statement to mark World Day Against the Death Penalty.

“Countries that still execute must ensure that there are resources to carry out independent and rigorous assessments of anyone facing the death penalty, from the time they are charged and continuing after the sentence,” said Gaughran.

In a prominent case in Japan, former boxer Hakamada Iwao, now 78, was sentenced to death for murder following what AI described as an “unfair trial” in 1968, and is the world’s longest serving death row prisoner. He developed severe mental problems during decades of solitary confinement and was temporarily released in March 2014 pending a possible retrial.

Matusmoto Kenji, who has been on death row for murder since 1993 and could face execution at any time, has Minamata disease, a mental disability as a result of mercury poisoning. He is reportedly paranoid and incoherent as a result of a mental illness he developed during his death row detention. His lawyers are currently seeking a retrial. ?

In Pakistan, 70-year-old British citizen Mohammad Asghar was convicted of blasphemy in January 2014 and sentenced to death. Asghar’s conviction — based on allegations that he claimed to be a “prophet” of Islam — ignored evidence that he suffers from mental illness and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in the UK in 2010 before moving to Pakistan. Asghar was injured in a shooting incident involving a guard at Rawalpindi prison last month.

“The international standards on mental and intellectual disability are important safeguards for vulnerable people,” said Gaughran. “We oppose the death penalty in all circumstances…. But in those countries that still execute, international standards, including those prohibiting the use of capital punishment on certain vulnerable groups, must be respected and implemented, pending full abolition.”

Source: ucanews.com