The Ministry of Justice on July 1 unveiled a mandatory preview of draft amendments to the Regulations for the Execution of the Death Penalty (執行死刑規則), which would remove articles governing the use of organs from executed convicts.
Although the use of organs from executed prisoners has been banned in Taiwan since the Human Organ Transplantation Act (人體器官移植條例) was amended in 2015, three articles in the regulations still contain rules that regulate the practice, the ministry said.
The articles state that an inmate awaiting capital punishment who wishes to donate their organs should sign a consent form and obtain approval from their spouse or a relative within three degrees of kinship; the execution should be carried out by a shot to the head in cases of prisoners who have consented to donate organs; and the body of an executed convict should be transferred to a hospital for organ removal surgery after they are determined to be dead.
Photo: Wu Cheng-fong, Taipei Times
Taiwan has not performed any organ transplantation from executed convicts in nine years, due to human rights and ethical concerns, the ministry said, citing as an example a controversy that erupted in 2011.
That year, five prisoners were executed and three of the bodies were taken to a hospital for organ transplant surgery shortly after execution, it said.
However, the incident caused an outcry from human rights groups, which said the organs might have been removed before the prisoners were legally brain dead, as the Brain Death Determination Procedure (腦死判定程序), issued in 1987 by the Ministry of Health and Welfare states that at least 16 hours of observation and two examinations are required before brain death can be declared.
Recipients of the organs could also develop stress disorder after finding that the organs came from executed prisoners, it added.
Another planned change to the regulations is a requirement for death row inmates to wear a hood during execution to make the job of the executioner less traumatic.
It is currently not compulsory for prisoners to wear a hood during executions, which are carried out by judicial police officers.
Being an executioner is an extremely stressful job that requires comprehensive training before and psychological consultation after an execution, said a ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
One of the major taboos of being an executioner is looking the person being executed in the eye, a judicial police officer responsible for executions said on condition of anonymity.
Amending the rules to require a prisoner to wear a hood would limit the chances of that happening, they added.
Another proposed amendment would require the ministry to consider other execution options to make executions more humane in accordance with international covenants on human rights.
Current regulations stipulate that capital punishment be carried out either by lethal injection or by shooting.
However, in practice, Taiwan has executed all of its death row inmates by shooting.
According to the rules, the person to be executed is injected with an anesthetic to render them unconscious before a judicial police officer fires a single shot from a pistol at the back of the prisoner’s heart.
If the prisoner has agreed to donate their organs, then the bullet is fired at the head.
Another proposed amendment would allow a prisoner who is about to be executed to leave a final message by audio or video recording, but it cannot be longer than 10 minutes.
The message is to be delivered to a designated family member or next of kin within 24 hours of the execution, according to the draft amendment.
Taiwan has 38 death row inmates, with the most recent execution conducted on April 1.
The ministry would hold discussions with experts and non-governmental organizations today before the amendments take effect on Wednesday.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS