Capital punishment has resumed in Thailand after a 6 year absence, Two drug traffickers were arrested on March 29, 2001 for possessing 114,219 methamphetamine pills. They were given death terms after being convicted of drug trafficking. They were put to death on Monday.
They are only the second set of convicts to be given lethal injections since this form of execution replaced firing squads six years ago. Thailand used to behead people sentenced to death. Then in 1934 they used a firing squad, well just one gun. A sub machine gun loaded with 15 bullets but usually only 8 would be fired. The last firing squad execution took place on December 11th 2002.
If you want to you can read two great reviews of a book titled, The Last Executioner. Richard Barrow who is a wealth of knowledge on Thailand and has many top class sites where you can find all sorts of information relating to Thailand. He wrote two reviews here and here if you would like to read them.
The two men, once told that a royal pardon had been denied had 2 hours before they met their fate, they were offered a last meal but couldn’t eat. They made wills called family and then monks gave them a final sermon. They paid respect at a shrine and three sacred Bodhi trees in front of the execution zone.
They were shackled inside the injection chamber, laid down on beds covered with white cloth; arms were stretched out, with three syringes beside each man. They contained a soporific drug, the second had a muscle relaxant drug, while the third contained an apparent "heart stopper". The injection process took about 25 minutes.
Of course these executions have brought condemnation from all sorts of human rights groups. Apparently executing criminals is ‘a transgression of the most basic of all human rights.’
And this, the Union for Civil Liberty said that the executions were wrong as they went against the majority vote of the United Nations General Assembly in December 2007 and again in December 2008 in favour of a universal moratorium on the death penalty.
Also, executions contravened the interpretation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by the UN Human Rights Committee on July 28, 2003, that drug offences do not constitute a crime subject to capital punishment within the terms of the covenant ratified.
This is my view on capital punishment.
I don’t agree at all. I believe in capital punishment for serious drug offenders, more countries need to follow suit. Drugs kill so many young people, create crime, and they have no place in any society.
How do you face a mother of a child who has been killed by a drug infected driver, a family whose son, brother has overdosed on bad drugs.
Drugs simply kill people. They kill people in so many ways.
Sadly the real kingpins of drug rings, usually the rich and powerful, seem untouchable. They pay corrupt officials to turn a blind eye to the plague they are spreading through society.
Usually the smaller dealers, couriers and of course consumers are caught. But if these people didn’t buy drugs, courier drugs or consume drugs then the kingpins wouldn’t have a business. But this is the real world.
I am sorry to say, but these people need to be made examples of. If an execution of a prisoner makes one person turn away from drugs I consider this a success.
The death penalty in Thailand is well known about. I cannot and do not believe any person who says they didn’t know that this law existed after the fact of being caught. Mostly foreigners try and plead to this, claiming naivety.
Usually any ‘smart’ person travelling to a foreign country will look up what are the dos and don’ts are, in the way of culture and especially laws.
All the human right groups, civil libertarians need to butt out, these laws are clearly stated and people who break the laws of Thailand face the maximum penalty, that being death.
I consider the other horrible human atrocities going on across the world far more concerning than criminals being executed. The mutilation of young girls, female circumcision, countries that allow girls to be married off when they are not even the age of ten, completely disgusting. Children being forced to work in sweat shops to pay back family debts are just a few things I consider more serious than a person who made a choice, they had control of their life. They could have said, ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Most know the ultimate risk if being caught, but they still choose to dabble in drugs. These people don’t need our sympathy.
These are my views; the beauty of this world is we all have different views. Currently, there are 832 convicts on death row in Thailand. Some 127 of them have had their final court ruling, meaning there is no further avenue for appeal. Their last and final chance is a royal pardon.
What do you think about the death penalty for drugs?
Brunty.
10 comments:
I agree with you completely. Drug dealers should be executed. They have no problem killing people in the pursuit of their business.
Everyone knows that Thailand has the death penalty for drug dealing so if you make that choice you know full well going into it that you may lose your life.
I find it funny that all these groups come out against capital punishment around the world but you never hear them speaking out against these people for the murders and deaths they have caused.
Hey Brunty,
Ive been following your blog now for a while and enjoy them very much keep up the good work. Im currently teaching in Ban Phaeng a small town in Nakhon Phanom. Pretty much everything you comment in your blogs I agree with 100% and same goes with this one.
In principle I think capital punishment could be fair (depending on the crime). However the requirement for it's application would be a judicial and police system which conforms to the highest of standards. Since the punishment is so severe, the margin of error must be extremely small. In my opinion Thailand can not deliver on that. (This is not meant to denigrate Thailand - there are many countries which can't.)
Even in a country which had such a system, I don't think I'm in favor of capital punishment. It's fair, yes - but ultimately it means someone has to kill another human being who (at the time) is completely defenseless. I'd fight in a war to defend my country, but I would never shoot a prisoner - there is no honor in that. Sure, I don't have to do it personally, but then someone has to do it. If I myself was a politician who has to make the choice to execute or not, I would never approve an execution for the reasons named above. I don't see myself voting for a politician who would, either.
So by induction I end up being against capital punishment. In a democracy ultimately I'd be responsible for killing an unarmed man, and I don't do that.
Hi Talen, thanks for dropping by. Thanks for your views on the death penalty.
No matter what country you go to, there are laws that cannot be crossed. In some countries you have your hand cut off for stealing still today.
I agree about the groups against capital punishment, do they sit with families of victims of drug deaths and see the devastating effect is has on them.
Just the other day in Australia a man had pleaded not guilty to murder but pleaded manslaughter for killing a young kid in an apparent drug induced craze. Tell the parents of this child he deserves to live!
Anon, thanks for commenting and the kind words. The name of the village rings a bell. Nakon Phanom isn't a huge place, what is it like living there and teaching?
Stefan thanks for your views, I have friends that think the same as you. One believes no matter what a person does they never should have their life taken away.
Even when I broached the scenario of a person kills your mum and dad in cold blood. You don't want this person dead?
Apparently not! I would want to kill them myself, truthfully I would. I would have no qualms in pushing a button to administer a lethal injection.
Sadly there have been mistakes with capital punishment. I have seen some very good documentaries that covered people who had been put to death wrongly. This is tragic but at the time the technology isn't what it is today. Also bad work by law enforcement officers was to blame, indeed tragic.
Executing a person is a huge decision, but I could make this decision with ease and not lose a minute’s sleep if the case had been proven 100% on the evidence presented and the courts ruled this decision.
I don't know how the injection process proceeds here in Thailand. In America there are three possible executioners, they all push a button at their panel and the lethal injection is administered and no one knows who actually delivered the lethal dose as a computer scrambles the details.
If you looked at 'Honor', as in respecting the courts decisions, through all the appeals process and then also honoring the royal decision to not pardon a condemned prisoner, this is showing an honor far above the condemned prisoner’s life, I believe. If through all the court systems and all the different judges they still believe that the prisoner should be executed, you must honor this ruling as it is the law of the country set by the government. That is how I would look at it.
Killing an unarmed person, again this person was armed with drugs that kill so many people, cause so many problems in society. They might not be armed with a weapon as a knife or gun but at the time of their capture they had a weapon with the potential to cause death and a lot of misery.
Thanks a lot for your views I really appreciate them.
Brunty
I believe that we humans are about the only species of mammals that allows the killing of our own kind by our hands.
For all the capital punishments over the centuries, it still has not deterred humans from wanting to kill their own kind.
Therefore, for me, capital punishment has no use whatsoever and has done absolutely nothing to bring down the rate of terrible crimes.
And I also believe that we have no right to kill another human being, even if that humam being has killed our own parents and children. That person will get their judgement from God.
Michael, thanks for your views, It is good to read your points. It is true that in countries where certain offences carry teh deathj penalty people disregard this and still commit that crime.
If being sentenced to death isn't a deterrent for a person, they cannot value their life very much.
I do hope there is a god or higher being to judge these people when the end of their lives comes.
Romans 12:19
"It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.
G'Day Brunty,
Having seen the deadly results of what these drugs can do at very close quarters, having seen what it does to people and families, I would have no hesitation in pressing the button on these death-merchants myself.
During every single one of my visits to Thailand over the past 10 years, one of the things that was made very clear to everyone, both before landing and afterwards, is that drug smuggling is a capital offense. You'd have to be living under a rock in Antarctica not to know that Thailand has some of the harshest penalties for this kind of crime.
The laws are there for a reason. Breach them at your own peril.
I agree with your views. I think drug dealers are one of the most despicable creatures on Earth. I have a friend that died from drug overdose at the young age of 26. Now, he is to blame for his addiction as all of us around him has tried and tried to keep him away from drugs. We, the friends and family blamed ourselves for not doing enough, but, the bastards that helped his addiction should hang. Each and everyone of them.
Fire man Eric, my exact thoughts as well. You know when you enter Thailand that drugs will make your stay in Thailand a lot longer and also not very nice. But many still take this risk.
Sangy thanks for the story, people addicted to drugs can be such a hard juggling act, the worse thing are the dealers who continually chase them and provide drugs to them.
I wish that the kingpins would be caught and not he small fish but this is wishful thinking.
Do you drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes? the lancet science journal has both the drugs ranked higher for danger to humans aswell as addiction than many illegal drugs, such as cannabis-one of the worlds oldest medicines.I understand that yaba(methamphetamine) and heroine are both easily available in thailand and it does destroy many live bothe there and accross the world. All i am stating is that world governments do not help them selves by allowing 2 dangerous and addictive drugs to be sold openly to people over 18/21 etc. So wen people try drugs such as cannabis which have very few side affects and whilst you can overdose on the compounds in the drug a human cannot consume this quantity of the drug. This leads people no wonder why it is illegal if it isnt harmful( cannabis is ofen stated as being bad for the brain causing it to 'rot away' this can only be proven in medical tests on mice whilst he brain is in a developmental stage, so why isnt it illegal at 21?) and move on to other more dangerous drugs as the government lies to the person about cannabis so why not cocaine, heroin? If drugs were legal there would be no drug dealers who are usually violent people either involved in or funding organised crime worldwide. Drug use in Holland is lower than most if not all of westernised countries, locals have the ability to smoke cannabis but because just because you can doesnt mean you will. Picture a child sitting beside a toy and you are tidying up and try to tidy the toy away, the child grabs it and now wants the toy, why does it want it? Because it cant have it. I appologise for the spelling and gramatical mistakes but im a science student not an english student. Love the blog by the way
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