Death penalty under review

PORT MORESBY – Papua New Guinea’s prime minister Peter O’Neill says the death penalty is “under review” after recent global outcry over the execution of foreign drug convicts in neighbouring Indonesia.

PNG revived capital punishment two years ago to reduce rampant crime, prompted in part by the live burning of a 20-year-old woman for sorcery.

The government has approved three modes of execution – hanging, lethal injection and firing squad – but none of the 12 convicts on death row have been killed, due to a lack of execution infrastructure.

“As I have indicated publicly, the death penalty is under review,” O’Neill said after being asked whether PNG would think again following the Indonesian fallout.

“Our agencies of government are reviewing all aspects of the death penalty in our country and we will debate this issue on the floor of parliament when parliament resumes.”

The prime minister’s comments came ahead of a two-day visit by Indonesian president Joko Widodo, under whose leadership 14 drug convicts have been executed, including Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

Catholic archbishop John Ribat, a vocal opponent to the death penalty in PNG, said he supported suggestions of a review and said it would “promote respect for life”.

Following the executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran in Bali, debate about the role of the death penalty in society has led to calls for Australia to push for an end to the punishment around the world.

Ribat said he respected Widodo’s right to enforce the death penalty in Indonesia but did not agree with the punishment being used in PNG.

“That is the view of his nation, but here we are Christians, and we believe God’s law must prevail,” he said. “No-one has any right to take the life of any other people.”

In February, attorney-general and Department of Justice secretary Dr Lawrence Kalinoe said the government wanted to make the country a safer place by re-introducing capital punishment.

But Ribat said the crimes punishable by death – treason, piracy, wilful murder, aggravated rape, robbery involving violence and sorcery-related killings – would be better dealt with long prison terms.

He said the government was “avoiding responsibility” with the death penalty by not rehabilitating serious offenders.

“We believe that a better way of dealing with people who have broken laws is actually to commit them to a life sentence, and that is a way of rehabilitating people and helping them to become good people,” he said.

Australia’s SmartTraveller website advises those visiting Papua New Guinea to “exercise a high degree of caution because of the high levels of serious crime”.