Taiwan carries out first execution in five years

January 18, 2025 journo

Taiwan has carried out its first execution in nearly five years, drawing criticism from rights groups which said the use of capital punishment was a “huge setback” for the island’s human rights.

Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai, 32, who was found guilty of murdering his ex-girlfriend and her mother in 2017, was executed by shooting late on Thursday.

He had also raped his ex-girlfriend.

“The crimes Huang was involved in were cruel and callous. They were dehumanising, extremely vicious and the culpability was extremely serious,” the Justice Ministry said after the execution.

Despite Taiwan’s reputation as Asia’s most liberal democracy, the death penalty remains broadly popular according to opinion polls.

The island has carried out 36 executions since a moratorium on capital punishment was lifted in 2010.

Thursday’s execution was the first under President Lai Ching-te, who took office in May 2024.

Under his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, who also belongs to the Democratic Progressive Party, two people were executed.

Thirty-three death row inmates were executed during the presidency of Ms Tsai’s predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang party.

Taiwan’s Constitutional Court ruled in September that capital punishment is constitutional but should be “limited to special and exceptional circumstances”, after considering a petition brought by 37 people who were then on death row.

Amnesty International Taiwan director E-Ling Chiu said Thursday’s execution was a “shocking and cruel development”.

“Taiwan’s Minister of Justice, with a strike of his pen, has undone several years of hard-fought progress towards the abolition of the death penalty. This is a huge setback for human rights in Taiwan,” Ms Chiu said.

The European Union said it condemned Huang’s crime “in the strongest terms” but insisted on its opposition to capital punishment in “all circumstances”.

“The EU therefore calls on Taiwan to apply and maintain a de facto moratorium, and to pursue a consistent policy towards the full abolition of the death penalty in Taiwan,” the bloc said in a statement.

Taiwan’s main opposition party, Kuomintang, previously criticised the Constitutional Court ruling as “effectively abolishing” and voiced its support for capital punishment.

On Thursday, the party urged the government to execute the 36 remaining death row inmates after their judicial process has ended.

AFP/Reuters