We, the undersigned organisations, are gravely concerned about a debate held in Tonga’s Parliament late last month, which suggests the country may be considering extending the death penalty to drug-related offences. News reports and a press release from the Parliament of Tonga reported that the debate was held on 28 May 2024 in the Fale Alea ‘O Tonga Chambers, Tonga’s Legislative Assembly. 

While the debate participants rejected this proposal by a strong margin of 38 to 8, the consideration of the use of the death penalty for drug-related offences is both unsettling and cause for great concern. As the last state in the Pacific to retain the death penalty in law, Tonga is classified by Amnesty International as ‘abolitionist in practice’, having not imposed a death sentence or carried out an execution since 1982.   

Historically, the death penalty in Tonga has acted as a discretionary punishment for the crimes of murder or treason, and has been carried out by hanging. The Tongan parliament has successfully defeated two attempts to introduce the use of the death penalty for drug-related offences, the first in 2004 and the second in 2021. It is regrettable that the parliament has now hosted a public debate on capital punishment as a deterrent for drug-related offences. Sponsored by the Speaker, Lord Fakafānua, the Office of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga noted this marked the first public debate they have hosted. With the Government of Tonga maintaining that the country ‘faces increasing challenges related to illicit drug offences’, King Tupou VI is reported to have urged parliamentarians to find solutions.  

Within Tonga, critics of the proposal that such “solutions” could be achieved through extending the death penalty to drug offences have expressed concerns that this approach would disproportionately affect people living in poverty and those who lack power and control over their own circumstances. Director of the Tongan Women and Children’s Crisis Centre, Ofa Guttenbeil-Likiliki told ABC Pacific that human rights groups in Tonga have been calling on the government for two decades to repeal the death penalty due to its disproportionate effects on the nation’s most vulnerable people. 

Citing existing issues with life imprisonment being a mandatory punishment in Tonga for drug trafficking, Guttenbeil-Likiliki called for drug-related crimes and trafficking to be dealt with through strategic national reforms rather than extending and relying on the death penalty. We encourage the Government of Tonga to turn to the growing body of evidence-based drug policy that is grounded in human rights and harm reduction principles to address their concerns.

The global trend towards abolition of the death penalty is clear. On 15 December 2022, a record 125 countries voted for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty at the UN General Assembly. Rather than explore opportunities to extend the death penalty, the Government of Tonga should consider joining this global trend and adopt both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its Second Optional Protocol, which is specifically aimed at the abolition of the death penalty.

Further, international law and standards make it clear that, even in countries where the death penalty is currently retained, ‘[d]rug-related offences can never serve as the basis for the imposition of the death penalty.’ Rather than taking the regressive step of expanding the death penalty, we call on the Government of Tonga to seek alternate methods to combat drug-related crimes, grounded in evidence and human rights, and to fully abolish this cruel punishment. 

Organisations signed:

• Amnesty International
• Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN)
• Capital Punishment Justice Project (CPJP), Australia
• Harm Reduction International
• Julian Wagner Memorial Fund (JWMF), Australia
• Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA)
• World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (WCADP)

We, the undersigned organisations, are deeply concerned to learn of the conviction and death sentence imposed upon Ms Lesedi Molapisi by a Bangladesh court on 27 May 2024. 

In 2022, Ms Molapisi, a national of Botswana, was arrested at Bangladesh’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport after she was found in possession of 3.145 kilograms of heroin. On 27 May 2024, she was convicted by a Dhaka court of drug smuggling and sentenced to death. 

A death sentence passed by a court can be commuted by the government under Sections 401 and 402 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 and under Article 49 of the Constitution. As a first step, we call upon Bangladesh to immediately commute Ms Molapisi’s sentence, as a death sentence for a non-violent crime demonstrates a blatant disregard of international law and standards. As a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which has been consistently interpreted as restricting the use of the death penalty to ‘crimes of extreme gravity involving intentional killing’, Bangladesh is prohibited from using the death penalty for drug related offences. The International Narcotics Control Board has also noted that the use of the death penalty for drug-related offences is in breach of the UN Drug Conventions and a violation of international human rights law. We urge the authorities of Bangladesh to take swift steps to repeal the death penalty for these offences, pending full abolition of this cruel punishment.

Bangladesh remains a staunch proponent of the death penalty, imposing it in flagrant violation of international standards. In 2018, Bangladesh enacted the Narcotics Act 2018 (which replaced the earlier Narcotics Act 1990), allowing the imposition of death sentences for several non-violent drug offences. In 2023, at least 390 persons were sentenced to death and five executions were carried out. A further 111 death sentences were imposed in the first three months of 2024. Amnesty International has identified Bangladesh as imposing such sentences in disregard of fair trial standards, including in absentia trials. Executions carried out pursuant to death sentences imposed in violation of fair trial rights amount to arbitrary killing, violating the right to life. 

At present, more than 2,400 people are known to be on death row in Bangladesh. Concerns have been raised as to the conditions under which Bangladesh’s death row prisoners are kept, citing overcrowding, unsanitary and unhygienic conditions, torture, and solitary confinement. The death row phenomenon, a likely consequence of prolonged periods of detention in harsh conditions on Bangladesh’s death row, has also been linked to the absolute prohibition of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In January 2024, the imposition of the death penalty was challenged before the Supreme Court as being contrary to the Constitution and international law. In May 2024, the High Court Division of the Supreme Court in Dhaka found the solitary confinement of death row prisoners who are yet to exhaust their legal appeals to be unconstitutional, ordering that all such prisoners must be moved to general prison populations within two years.

The global community is in clear support of steps towards the abolition of the death penalty, as demonstrated by the 112 countries that are fully abolitionist and more than two-thirds (144) of countries that are abolitionist in law and practice. The government of Bangladesh should abolish the death penalty in relation to drug offences and commute the sentences of those currently on death row for drug offences, as first important steps. Further, the government should ensure that every person charged with a death eligible offence has meaningful access to justice through adequate funding for competent legal representation, including funding to obtain expert evidence as required. Moreso, they should follow the global trend towards abolition of the death penalty, starting by declaring a moratorium on executions.

Signed: 

Amnesty International
Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN)
Capital Punishment Justice Project
DITSHWANELO – The Botswana Centre for Human Rights
Eleos Justice – Monash University 
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
Odhikar 

5 June 2024