President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) irked the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty yesterday by reportedly telling them he never said he was in favor of abolishing the death penalty.
“He said his position had always been that the public can discuss the matter and the public must come to a consensus on the controversial issue,” Wu Chih-kuang (吳志光), deputy convener of the association, said after meeting Ma at the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon.
Only the start of the meeting, when Ma made welcoming remarks, was open to the media. Wu said Ma stated his position after reporters left.
Wu said his impression was that Ma was in favor of abolishing the death penalty and that the administration was making efforts toward achieving that goal.
“I had originally hoped to hear him explain his position,” Wu said. “But he told us he is not a supporter of abolishing the death penalty.”
Wu said he was somewhat disappointed, but happy that Ma had made his position clear so there would be no unrealistic expectations. Wu said he would continue to push for abolition, although he did not expect the issue to be resolved overnight.
Ma said he hoped to deal with the matter by reducing the number of death sentences.
He has signed two UN covenants that suggest support for abolishing the death penalty, but it was not a legal obligation for the countries endorsing the conventions, the president said.
“The Republic of China government is fundamentally in accord with the two UN covenants and the Ministry of Justice has set a long-term goal,” Ma said. “We hope to narrow the gap between different groups so we can make a decision that everybody finds acceptable.”
Meanwhile, Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) said there was no timetable to execute the 40 prisoners now on death row.
He made the remarks while visiting Wu Tung-yen (吳東諺), the 24-year-old handicapped son of Wu Ming-han (吳銘漢), who was killed along with his wife Yeh Ying-lan (葉盈蘭) in their home in Sijhih (汐止), Taipei County, in 1991 in what later became known as the Hsichih Trio case. The two bodies had more than 77 stab wounds.
“I have conflicting views about the death penalty. I do not hope for the abolition of the death penalty, but on the other hand, I do not like revenge following revenge,” he told reporters.
“My ministry is paying more attention to consoling and help victims’ families,” he said.
The Hsichih Trio — Su Chien-ho (蘇建和), Liu Bing-lang (劉秉郎) and Chuang Lin-hsun (莊林勳) — are in the unique position of having been condemned to death, but are not behind bars.
Their case was the first to go through three extraordinary appeals, the first capital case to be granted a retrial, the first capital case where a verdict was changed to not guilty in a retrial and the first death sentence not to be carried out within a year.
When the Taiwan High Court reinstated the death sentence against them on June 29, 2007, the defendants were not detained.
The entire case against the men is based on their confessions, which were allegedly extracted by torture and which do not correspond on details of the crime.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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