Taiwan carried out its first execution in nearly five years on Thursday, drawing criticism from human rights groups who said the use of capital punishment was a “huge setback” for human rights on the island. island.
Huang Lin-kai, 32, who was convicted of strangling his ex-girlfriend and her mother to death in 2017, was executed by firing squad late Thursday .
“The crimes Mr. Huang was involved in were cruel and callous. They were dehumanizing, extremely vicious and the culpability was extremely serious,” the Justice Department said after the execution.
The island has carried out 36 executions since a moratorium on capital punishment was lifted in 2010. This execution was the first since the inauguration of President Lai Ching-te, who took office in May 2024.
In September, the Constitutional Court ruled that the death penalty should be “limited to special and exceptional circumstances.”
Amnesty International Taiwan Director E-ling Chiu said Thursday’s execution was a “cruel and shocking development.” “Taiwan’s Justice Minister, with the stroke of a pen, has reversed years of painstaking progress toward abolishing the death penalty. This is a significant setback for human rights in Taiwan,” said E-ling Chiu.
The European Union said it condemned the crime committed by Huang Lin-kai “in the strongest possible terms,” but insisted it opposed the death penalty “in all circumstances.”
-“The EU therefore calls on Taiwan to apply and maintain a de facto moratorium and to pursue a coherent policy towards the total abolition of the death penalty in Taiwan,” the European Union said in a statement.
In the past, the Kuomintang, the main opposition party in Taiwan, has criticized the Constitutional Court’s decision, considering that it abolishes the death penalty “in practice”. On Thursday, the party called on the government to execute the 36 death row inmates remaining at the end of their legal proceedings.
Once a dictatorship, Taiwan has become one of Asia’s most progressive democracies, but according to polls, most Taiwanese support the death penalty.
Are you already following us on WhatsApp?
Subscribe to our channel, activate the little ???? and you will receive a news recap every day in early evening.
