This summary of developments relating to the death penalty was compiled by Amnesty International.
Jamaica
On November 2, 1993, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London (which remains the final court of appeal for 16 Commonwealth countries) allowed the appeal of Earl Pratt and Ivan Morgan, who had been under sentence of death in Jamaica since 1979, and commuted their sentences to life imprisonment.
The two men have spent over 14 years on death row. The death warrant was read to them three times and they were moved to the condemned cells. Each time they received a stay — sometimes only a very short time before the time scheduled for the execution. Lawyers for both men have argued that such treatment and the long delay between sentence and execution breached the Jamaican Constitution, which says: "No person shall be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading punishment or other treatment".
The Privy Council said that in future, where an execution was to take place more than five years after sentence, the case should be referred to the Jamaican Privy Council with the recommendation that the sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment.
This decision could affect at least 103 other prisoners in Jamaica: 80 who have been on death row awaiting execution for more than five years and 23 who have been there for more than 10 years.
The last execution in Jamaica was carried out in February 1988. The method of execution is by hanging.
Trinidad and Tobago
In the upper house of the Trinidad Senate on International Human Rights Day — December 10 — Attorney General Keith Sobion said that all condemned prisoners jailed for five years and longer from the date of their convictions will have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. He said that the government had considered the implications of the judgment of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the case of Earl Pratt and Ivan Morgan from Jamaica.
Trinidad and Tobago still retains the Privy Council as its final court of appeal. The decision will apply to 50 prisoners on death row.
Zimbabwe
In October, an amendment to the Zimbabwe constitution was passed which ruled that the death sentence could not be challenged on the grounds that delay in execution or the conditions in which prisoners were held could be considered inhuman or degrading punishment.
This followed the test case brought by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in June 1993, where four individuals had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment following a Supreme Court ruling that the delay in carrying out their sentence of death violated the constitutional ban on inhuman or degrading punishment.
Following this case, at least 28 other individuals on death row had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. This amendment will mean that no more death sentences will be commuted on these grounds in Zimbabwe.
South Africa
In March 1992 the minister of justice said that executions would be suspended until an interim bill of rights had been agreed between the government's representatives and other parties.
In June 1993 the parliament voted in favour of ending the moratorium against executions. However, the minister of justice later announced that the moratorium would not be summarily lifted and that further consultations had to be conducted with "extra-parliamentary bodies".
The Interim Constitution is silent on the subject of the death penalty. It will not be implemented until after the elections due to be held on April 27, when it will be subject to detailed debate prior to being implemented. That debate will cover the question of capital punishment.
Peru
A public referendum was held on October 31 on the final draft of the new constitution approved by the Democratic Constitution Congress in September. The new constitution extends the scope of the death penalty to include "crimes of treason in wartime and terrorism". The referendum was carried and the draft constitution was approved.
This new constitution violates the American Convention on Human Rights, ratified by Peru in 1978, which explicitly prohibits any extension of the death penalty or its application for political offences or related common crimes.
Philippines
On December 13 President Fidel Ramos signed a law restoring the death penalty. Thirteen crimes will now attract this penalty: treason, piracy and mutiny on the high seas, bribery of public officials to cover up heinous crimes, parricide, murder, infanticide, kidnapping, robbery with violence against or intimidation of persons, destructive arson, rape, plunder, violation of the Dangerous Drugs Act and car theft. The inclusion of plunder in the law was prompted by the alleged massive theft of public money by the late President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda.
The death penalty was abolished in 1987 when a new constitution was established when former President Corazon Aquino took office. The last execution was in 1973.
Turkey
For the first time in over nine years, the Judicial Commission of the Turkish parliament has approved a death sentence. The case will now be sent to the Turkish Grand National Assembly (parliament) for approval, which requires a simple majority. Execution, which is by hanging, could be carried out immediately the death sentence has been ratified by parliament.
Since October 1984, when the last executions were carried out, there has been a de facto moratorium on executions. The offences punishable by death were reduced in 1990 from 29 to 13, and in 1991 all existing death sentences were commuted to terms of imprisonment.
Swaziland
On October 1, to mark his 25th birthday and the 25th anniversary of Swaziland's independence from Britain, King Mswati III commuted all death sentences on prisoners in Swaziland's jails to life imprisonment.
Singapore
At the end of August Singapore's parliament passed a bill which extended the scope of the death penalty to criminals using firearms while committing or attempting to commit a crime.