Taipei, May 1 (CNA) Human rights groups on Saturday condemned the killing of four inmates on death row by Taiwan's government, saying that the country's first executions since December 2005 put Taiwan's human rights record at risk.
Amnesty International condemned Taiwanese authorities while the Taiwanese Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) expressed its "shock and anger" upon learning that four prisoners were put to death Friday evening after Ministry of Justice Tseng Yung-fu signed warrants for the executions.
Chang Chun-hung, Hung Chen-yao, Ko Shih-ming and Chang Wen-wei were executed in Taipei, Tainan and Taichung just five weeks after former Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng resigned amid a political storm sparked by her statement that she would not sign death warrants during her term.
The prisoners were put to death "according to the law as the four were convicted of grave offenses such as murder-kidnapping and multiple murders," the Ministry of Justice said in a statement.
The four were executed after 7 p.m., Deputy Justice Minister Wu Chen-hwan told the media in a press conference Friday night, adding that the executed inmates did not request Constitutional interpretations of their cases.
"These executions cast a dark shadow on the country's human rights record and blatantly contradict the Justice Minister's previously declared intention to abolish the death penalty, " Catherine Baber, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific Deputy Director, said in a press release.
"The world was looking to the Taiwanese authorities to choose human rights, and to show leadership on the path towards abolishing the death penalty in the Asia-Pacific. Today's executions extinguished that hope," she added.
The executions were carried out "furtively and hastily" without prior notice to families of the inmates, said Lin Hsin-yi, executive director of the TAEDP.
The TAEDP has raised concerns over the legality of the executions. The Judicial Yuan accepted a request for an interpretation of the Constitution submitted by the TAEDP on behalf of Taiwan's 44 death row inmates on April 26, and granted a deadline of May 3 for documents from the four prisoners who were executed, Lin said.
Starting in the previous administration under the now-opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Taiwan's government has voiced a long-term goal of abolishing the death penalty. The current administration of President Ma Ying-jeou incorporated a pair of United Nations covenants -- the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights -- into domestic law last year.
Taiwan reserves the death penalty for serious crimes including aggravated murder, kidnapping and robbery.
According to most public opinion polls, over 70 percent of Taiwan people are in favor of the death penalty. (By Chris Wang) enditem/bc