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Updated Wednesday, October 10, 2007 0:00 am TWN, CNA

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Film festival to be held to call for an end to death penalty

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty will hold a film festival starting Oct. 12 to call public attention to the issue of abolishing capital punishment, officials said yesterday.

The Murder by Numbers Film Festival, the second of its kind since 2004, will be held to mark the Oct. 10 World Day Against the Death Penalty and to underline the violent nature of the death penalty, according to alliance CEO Lin Hsin-yi.

The festival, scheduled for Oct. 12-14 in Taipei and Oct. 19-21 in Kaohsiung, will feature nine films from Taiwan, Italy, Sweden, France, Denmark, India and the United States, Lin said, adding that the alliance hope the films will help the public better understand the issue.

Liu Ching-yi, president of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, noted that the issue of a moratorium on the death penalty has been included on the agenda of the ongoing 62nd session of the United Nations General Assembly and that the General Assembly is expected to adopt a resolution on the issue in November.

Liu suggested that Taiwan proactively adopt the human rights values and practices advocated by the United Nations if the country wishes to join the world body.

Wu Chih-kuang, deputy convener of the alliance, pointed out that although Taiwan remains one of the few countries where the death penalty has not been abolished, no executions have been carried out over the past two years, a situation which he said could be taken as the beginning of the end of the death penalty.

Noting that 28 criminals are still on the death row in the country, Judicial Reform Foundation CEO Lin Feng-cheng urged President Chen Shui-bian to officially declare a moratorium on the death penalty and grant amnesty or sentence commutations to criminals under sentences of death.

Lin also suggested that the Minister of Justice Shih Mao-lin not sign any execution orders, but rather work to amend related laws to pave the way for the abolition of the death penalty.

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