Outlaw the Death Penalty

A large majority in the European Parliament has passed a motion calling for the abolition of capital punishment. Concerning the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a delegation of cross-group members will travel to the United States.

Three days prior to Oct. 10, the day set aside each year for protesting capital punishment, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for the global abolition of the death penalty by a wide margin. The final vote on the resolution was 574 in favor, 25 against with 39 abstentions. Sabine Lösing, speaking for the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL), told reporters, “We can consider it a great success that the African-American journalist, author and human rights activist Mumia Abu-Jamal was twice mentioned by name in the joint resolution. That’s an important achievement and in the final analysis an unambiguous statement by the European Parliament.”

The death penalty policy in the United States in general and for Mumia Abu-Jamal in particular had already been discussed in the plenary session by Barbara Lochbihler, former General Secretary of the German branch of Amnesty International, now spokesperson for the European Green Party, as well as by Sören Bo Sondergaard of the GUE/NGL. Jamal has now been on death row in Pennsylvania for nearly thirteen years.

The resolution is based on numerous international legal decisions, covenants and conventions, including both the U.N. General Assembly resolutions of 2007 and 2008 that call for the abolition of capital punishment worldwide. This resolution now encourages non-governmental organizations to actively pursue a global death penalty ban.

Besides the United States, other countries in which the death penalty and executions are considered “state secrets” were also targeted. Among them are China, Iran, Saudi-Arabia, Egypt, Nigeria, Libya, Belarus, North Korea, Japan and Iraq, where the Iraqi Parliament recently ratified the executions of at least 900 prisoners, among them women and children, according to the European Union document.

The resolution refers to Article 2 of the E.U.’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, which states, “No one may be sentenced to death or executed” and further calls upon the European Union “to energetically and actively work toward the abolition of capital punishment globally.”

A clear mandate to the European Commission and to Catherine Ashton, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union, has thus been made. In a speech during the plenary session, Ashton had already made clear the position that abolishing the death penalty was a high priority for the European Union and for her personally. Now she has been given a mandate by parliament to act on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal on death row in Pennsylvania and also for Troy Davis in Georgia. Ashton has been invited to act personally and on a regular basis for those who face imminent execution.

Parliamentary member Lösing has promised to dig deeper. “From now on I will appear regularly before the Commission to ensure Mrs. Ashton is carrying out the orders of the Commission.” She added that her political faction would keep the pressure on to ensure compliance.

On the occasion of the plenary debate of the resolution and its final adoption, several meetings and events were held by liberal and E.U. green party organizations in Brussels, to which Robert R. Bryan, Jamal’s chief defense attorney, was invited. Beyond that, plans were announced by Lösing and Sondergaard to send a cross-group delegation to the United States as early as next January.

In a joint meeting of the GUE/NGL, Bryan stressed how urgently important it was for European support in the matter, saying the involvement of E.U. parliamentary members in opposition to capital punishment in the United States and for the release of his client was of great significance. He urged all delegates to support an online petition to President Obama to this end. The mobilization of European support was essential, he said, due to the scheduled 3rd U.S. District Court hearing of Jamal’s upcoming Nov. 9 appeal to reduce his sentence to life in prison. Bryan said that he and his client were counting on European support, and that with it, their struggle to abolish the death penalty would gain strength and continue.