The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) held a concert on the Double Ten holiday yesterday to mark the World Day Against the Death Penalty, intended to raise public support for its campaign against capital punishment.
Individual singers and rock bands began performances at around 3:30pm in a small performance hall in Kaohsiung City.
Behind the bands, a message read: The death penalty must be abolished in Taiwan.
“Abolishing the death penalty is actually a global trend,” TAEDP executive director Lin Hsin-yi (林欣怡) told the Taipei Times in a phone interview.
During the General Assembly meeting last year, the UN decided to take a more active role in ending executions by adopting a “moratorium on the use of the death penalty.”
“We’ve seen too many cases around the world in which people are found innocent only after they were executed — There is unfortunately no chance of reversing the sentence for them,” Lin said.
Asia is considered the most “death penalty-active” continent, with the death penalty still in place in 14 countries.
However, Lin said she believed Taiwan could take a leading role in ending capital punishment in Asia.
“There has been no execution at all in Taiwan for nearly three years, and there are already debates on the topic,” she said. “We think there’s a hope, especially because Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng [王清峰] has openly spoken against the death penalty and President Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] hinted so as well during the [presidential] campaign.”
Upon her inauguration, Wang said she was in favor of abolishing the death penalty.
Ma promised during his presidential campaign that he would govern the country following ideas outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
“Although Ma did not say it clearly, ending the death penalty is one of the ideas outlined in these documents,” Lin said.
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
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