Taipei: Taiwan executed its first prisoner in five years on Thursday, drawing criticism from both human rights organizations and the European Union, which urged the government to maintain its de facto moratorium on the death penalty.
Although Taiwan is known as Asia’s most liberal democracy, the death penalty remains largely supported by the public, according to opinion polls. However, executions have been rare in recent years, with violent crime rates being relatively low.
In September, Taiwan’s constitutional court ruled that the death penalty remains constitutional, but only for the most serious crimes and following rigorous legal scrutiny. This ruling came after a petition from 37 death row inmates.
The Taiwanese Justice Ministry announced in a statement that Huang Lin-kai was executed at the Taipei Detention Centre. Huang had been sentenced to death in 2017 for the brutal murder of his ex-girlfriend and her mother in 2013. He also raped his ex-girlfriend.
The ministry emphasized that Huang’s execution aligned with the constitutional court’s September ruling, citing the “inhumane and extremely vicious” nature of his crime.
Taiwan had not carried out an execution since April 2020, a move that had also sparked EU condemnation shortly after Taiwan had received praise from the bloc for its donations of face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The EU’s diplomatic service responded to the latest execution, calling on Taiwan to uphold a de facto moratorium on executions and continue working toward the full abolition of the death penalty, reaffirming its strong opposition to capital punishment.
Also Read | Evacuees in Los Angeles Ordered to Stay Away for Another Week Amid Ongoing Wildfires
While Taiwan’s largest opposition party, the Kuomintang, expressed its support for the death penalty, human rights organizations voiced their concerns.
Also Read | SpaceX’s Starship Explodes During Test Flight, Disrupting Air Traffic
“This execution is a shocking and brutal development,” said E-Ling Chiu, Taiwan Director at Amnesty International.
Also Read | North Korea Condemns US Aircraft Deployments Over Korean Peninsula
The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty, in collaboration with three other rights organizations, condemned the execution, stating that capital punishment would only make society “more bloodthirsty.”
The Alliance’s Facebook page was subsequently flooded with comments, many in support of the death penalty.
