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ACT NOW - Stop Child Executions! - Amnesty International Australia


World  (tags: 'HUMANRIGHTS!', children, death, crime, violence, freedoms, humans, ethics )

David
- 48 days ago - amnesty.org.au
No child should be sentenced to death. And no mother should go through the anguish of burying a child who has been executed... Add your name to end child executions?... Amnesty International is part of the World Coalition against the Death Penalty.
Comments

ON VACATION Please Hold Mail (338)
Friday October 9, 2009, 4:16 am
Barbaric! No matter where they live or what they did, NO CHILD SHOULD BE EXECUTED.
 

Dandelion G. (124)
Friday October 9, 2009, 11:01 am
Thank you for posting this story and petition David. Is so right, NO CHILD, should ever be sentenced to death. By the mere fact they are children. I'm all for allowing people to have their culture, but this is not acceptable under any circumstance.
Gladly, but sadly signed at #2957
I will also promote this page.
 

Glenda Jasper (125)
Friday October 9, 2009, 12:27 pm
How pathetic
 

Abdessalam Diab (33)
Friday October 9, 2009, 12:29 pm
I signed the petition although I am not aware of any cases like this.Children must not be executed whatever the reason is.This is a crime by all means.Thanks David.
 

EJ M. (263)
Friday October 9, 2009, 1:09 pm
DEFINATELE SIGNED. THX. WAT A LOAD !
 

Loving C. (1)
Friday October 9, 2009, 1:35 pm
This is soo Barbaric!!NO CHILD, should ever be sentenced to death.
 

Catherine Turley (45)
Friday October 9, 2009, 1:49 pm
delara darabi was a child when convicted. she was recently executed. there are others awaiting execution. why distinguish between child and adult if we're not going to use that distinction to determine treatment?
 

David Buchan (164)
Friday October 9, 2009, 2:05 pm
Were you ever a child Catherine?...Or did you just arrive on the planet in a blinding flash as a full blown adult?...Children do not know what they do, adults do!?...Or shall we just kill 'em all and let God sort them out?

Is reason and compassion dead?
 

Maryanne Campbell (83)
Friday October 9, 2009, 2:06 pm
Noted and signed,thank you.
 

David Buchan (164)
Friday October 9, 2009, 2:11 pm
Oooops...The death penalty solves nothing for men, women or children...As a deterrent to further crime it has proven to be useless, time after time...How many people will be murdered today?

How many innocent people have been wrongly convicted and executed?

 

David Buchan (164)
Friday October 9, 2009, 2:16 pm
"If I come out of prison, I want to continue my education. I would like to be free. One of the judges promised that I would be pardoned….Mother, I am innocent".

The words of young Iranian Delara Derabi, the day before she was hung by the neck until dead on 1 May 2009.
 

Rain Away no message pls (162)
Friday October 9, 2009, 2:29 pm
noted and signed, thank you
 

Susan M. (251)
Friday October 9, 2009, 2:58 pm
signed will pass on,thank-you
 

Jim Phillips (2586)
Friday October 9, 2009, 3:00 pm
Petition signed.

TY, David.
.
 

Irene M. (87)
Friday October 9, 2009, 3:28 pm
Petition signed. Thank you,David.
 

Suzybell H. (221)
Friday October 9, 2009, 3:41 pm
Noted,signed& posted to Facebook!Thanks,David Great as usual
 

FreeSpirit Running (436)
Friday October 9, 2009, 4:02 pm
I need to thank you first David for this most valuable "lesson" in your article, CHILDREN! I have signed and will continue signing to stop CHILD executions, this is disgusting, how dare humans MURDER a CHILD?

Now, for Catherine, sorry but I won't stay shut on this one, have you lost your mind woman? Don't you see what you just said? Delara was a CHILD hon, get it? You just don't go around KILLING CHILDREN sweetie...There is a comparison between an adult and a CHILD my dear! You should check yourself before you wreck yourself.

NO CHILD EXECUTIONS, EVER!!!

Noted & forwarded my friend David ~

In peace,
~ FreeSpirit ~
 

Susan D. (53)
Friday October 9, 2009, 4:16 pm
The death penalty is always wrong, child or adult. Why? Firstly because if taking a life is wrong, then no-one has the right to do it, even to a criminal. But in my view, even more importantly, because so very often there are miscarriages of justice. Sometimes that is because a person has been "set up". Sometimes its down to prejudice such as racism. Quite often it is because people make mistakes. There have been so many cases of people convicted of murder, who in the modern day and age have been proved innocent by forensic testing such as DNA tests. Some of these prisoners had even confessed, as they were simple-minded. When miscarriages of justice are proven, we see prisoners released, often after a long time in jail, eg. the Guildford Four.(wrongly convicted of being IRA bombers) This cannot happen after the convict has been executed. Who is the murderer than? It is true that there have been a few cases so terrible that even a very liberal person would say that the person ought to be executed-- eg someone like Fred West (who over many years, tortured young girls to death in his cellar,and buried them under the patio.)However, once you have the death penalty for one, you have it for everyone. Better to lock up those sort forever-- no parole-- they can never change. In the mmeantime, stop jailing petty criminals and get them to do something useful instead. (I just heard on the BBC World Service last night that in California a man got life imprisonment for stealing a pizza. What a place!)
 

Barbara Liebowitz (875)
Friday October 9, 2009, 4:52 pm
signed thank you
 

David Buchan (164)
Friday October 9, 2009, 5:18 pm
"in California a man got life imprisonment for stealing a pizza."...Pull the other one Susan or give me a link and I'll believe you...

Britons (Adults only?) were 'transported' to Australia for stealing a loaf of bread...A sentence worse than death...I know, I live here :-)...

Death penalty for kids or anyone else?...NO!

Thanks to all for your comments (and hopefully, your signatures?)...A GREAT WEEKEND TO ALL!

 

Catherine Turley (45)
Friday October 9, 2009, 6:33 pm
you guys misunderstood. i was responding to the man who said he was unaware that child executions occur. they will say she was an adult when they killed her, but she was convicted when she was a kid. i am anti death penalty for everyone. and i sent countless emails on behalf of delara. my point is that we call children children because they don't think like adults. delara was willing to lie to save her boyfriend even though it put her in jeopardy. authorities took her admission as proof positive that she did the crime. but kids say and do stupid, self-sacrificing things that adults are less likely to do. they ought to have taken that into consideration.
 

Catherine Turley (45)
Friday October 9, 2009, 6:42 pm
how did you guys misread the last sentence of my first statement? pretty straightforward. kids shouldn't be treated like adults.
 

Mandi T. (261)
Friday October 9, 2009, 7:05 pm
Thanks for posting this David.
I SIGNED!
 

Wolfweeps Pommawolf (225)
Friday October 9, 2009, 7:21 pm
Noted and signed.
I am ashamed to be a human being when nation murder children.
I boycott all of them, for they shoulod hang their heads in shame for the murderes they are.
 

Gorilly Girl (371)
Friday October 9, 2009, 7:24 pm
Thank you
Thank you for signing our petition to put an end to the execution of juvenile offenders. Together we can consign this practice to history, as surely as slavery or apartheid.

Im a bit late but I got it...

Big goirlly Hugs
 

Shirley S. (32)
Friday October 9, 2009, 8:39 pm
Noted & signed with HORROR in my heart that such things like this have occurred.
 

stan b. (40)
Friday October 9, 2009, 8:59 pm
Unbelievable barbarity. Thanks for posting, David.
 

Pastor Tim Redfern (515)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 1:01 am
Thank you for signing our petition to put an end to the execution of juvenile offenders. Together we can consign this practice to history, as surely as slavery or apartheid.

Thank YOU, David! :-)
noted.
 

Cheree Million (126)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 1:26 am
Sick, What a shame. Noted & signed. Thanks
 

Cheree Million (126)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 1:29 am
Signed also.(3572 submissions so far)
 

Brigitte T. (52)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 2:29 am
Thanks for your comments Susan.

David I don't need a link to believe Susan. I have a friend in California who 10 years ago was sentenced to 25 to LIFE, after stealing a bike. Why? thanks to the infamous 3 Strike law. He is not a violent or a sex offender, not a threat to society, yet he is spending his adult life behind bars, like thousands of other non violent inmates, at the expenses of the tax payers. If and when he is released, after at least a quarter of a century in prison, he will probably be alone and too old to find a job, like thousands of others. I am not condoning stealing, but the punishment is unbelievably disproportionate.

I read articles about other examples, a man who got 25-life for stealing a Walt Disney video tape for his child, and another man for stealing a packet of biscuit. All thanks to that stupid, insane 3 strike law. Ask these men what kind of childhood they had... and now their adult lives is no better, while society is not safer without them, but that makes the prison system happy: prisons filled with inmates = more and more prisons = big money.

As for child executions and death penalty in general... it's state-approved murder. Legalized murder however is still MURDER; perhaps even worse, if that is possible, because Legislators are supposed to know that they do and it is premeditate, cold blooded murder. And as statistics have shown, 1 out of 7 or 8 on death row is innocent. When there are thousands of inmates on death row, it makes a lot of innocents with their lives (and their loved ones' lives) ruined for nothing. Another scandal is when children are sent to trial as adults. I'll never understand that.
 

ALPHA W. (96)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 3:07 am
SIGNED AND SENT ON!
 

FreeSpirit Running (436)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 4:53 am
Just a share, my signature is # 3676 ~ will be forwarding this one David.

Thanks for your explanation Cynthia, & all the emails for Delara, much appreciated hon.

In peace for all,
FreeSpirit ~
 

Lady Libertarian (76)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 5:48 am
NOTED!
And if I could note it again and again I would!
 

Cynthia Davis (226)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 6:47 am
signed TY David
 

David Buchan (164)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 7:04 am
Brigitte: That is REALY sick...Isn't anyone complaining or looking into it?
 

Eureka Morrison (228)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 7:04 am
Thank you

Thank you for signing our petition to put an end to the execution of juvenile offenders. Together we can consign this practice to history, as surely as slavery or apartheid.

3720 signatures so far. THANK YOU DAVID for posting on this very important issue.
 

Ge ARACELI (80)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 7:51 am


TO ALL WHO CRIMINALLY SUPPORT "DEATH SENTENCES TO ANYONE":

in TEXAS, recently... MURDER TOOK PLACE as TEXAS EXECUTED SOMEONE INNOCENT!
THIS CRIME
OF MURDER of INMATES in the USA
has OCURRED HOW MANY TIMES in VILE AND CORRUPTED TEXAS
as well as other "EXECUTION" states:
AND
WHERE IS THE USA NATIONALLY AND STATE BY STATE
holding those STATES WHORING AGAINST CITIZENS LIVES
ACCOUNTABLE FOR MURDERING CITIZENS!!!

IT IS DUE AGAINST EACH STATE GUILTY OF SUCH TREACHERY AND TYRANNY!!!
HOLD THE STATE ACCOUNTABLE AND PRESS CRIMINAL CHARGES OF MURDER
for
THE CRIME OF MURDER against that particular USA STATE :
for EXECUTION of INNOCENT PEOPLE!

WHY IS IT
THAT NOT YET HAVE THE EXECUTIONERS of the STATES of the USA
having VIOLATED CITIZENS LIVES NOT BEEN HELD ACCOUNTABLE!!!
IT IS SURELY DUE!

I DO NOT UPHOLD THE "DEATH PENALTY"!!!

LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE is an excellent SOLUTION for HEINOUS CRIMES.

I doubt SINCERELY that YOU ENTITLED TO "DEATH PENALTY" ranting and raving, nor others WITH YOUR "EXECUTE" fanfare___
FANCY YOURSELVES
as those EXECUTED for EXECUTING THE INNOCENT?

FOR YOUR drawing that LINE in the DIRT
that YOU "EXECUTION" MOBSTERS insist ON!

Nahh.
YOU EXPECT that
"YOU YOURSELF
FOR INSISTING ON DEATH SENTENCING will NOT HAVE TO FACE TRIALS
FOR FALSELY EXECUTING INNOCENT LIVES!

THOUGH
HOW MANY ARE THE BILLIONS WHO SAY YOU DESERVE ARREST AND SENTENCING BOTH!!!
and
I SAY YOU DESERVE MINIMALLY FOR INSISTING ON "DEATH SENTENCES"
and the INNOCENT EVEN ONCE has been EXECUTED
LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE!!!!!!!"

that is to SAY...
TO ALL "PRO DEATH PENALTY"
and even ONE LIFE was WRONGLY AND BY WHATEVER FABRICATIONS
placed into a PRISON... sentenced...
and "YOU SHOUTED EXECUTE THAT ONE!!!"
YOU GO STRAIGHT TO PRISON AND NEVER EVER EVER PAROLED!!!

I ALSO SAY IT CONTINUALLY AND CEASELESSLY
EVERY NATION
and that includes EVERY STATE of the USA
OWES
to all of us
REINVESTIGATION OF THOSE IN PRISONS
because IT IS A CERTAINTY in this USA
ANOTHER SEGMENT OF GREAT SHAME that is ON THE USA
it ALLOWS SCUM EXCUSE FOR COPS to EXIST who LIE and FALSIFY DATA
as well as SLIME EXCUSE FOR PROSECUTORS THAT BELONGED LOCKED AWAY LONG AGO!
and THERE ARE CITIZENS WHO ARE INNOCENT
LOCKED AWAY IN USA PRISONS
due to CORRUPTION IN THIS USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and IT IS OUR DUTY TO FREE THEM.
THE DUTY AND RESPONSIBILITY OF EVERY CITIZENS... ALL!!!
to SET FREE every inmate WRONGLY accused... ALL OF THEM.
and IT IS OWED TO THEM OPEN APOLOGY
FOR THE CRIMES COMMITTED AGAINST THEM BY THE USA
SUFFERED AND ENDURED UPON THEIR LIVES
as well as THE SENTENCING OF ALL INVOLVED IN THE TREACHERY TOWARD THEM!!!

NO DEATH PENALTY!!!

I SIGNED GLADLY!!!
You are here:
Home
Act Now Stop child executions
Thank you
Thank you for signing our petition
to put an end to the execution of juvenile offenders.
Together we can consign this practice to history,
as surely as slavery or apartheid.

DAVID YOU HAVE MANY WONDERFUL EXCELLENT POSTS... THIS ONE IS ANOTHER ONE!

BLESSING TO ALL WHO OPPOSE THE TYRANNY OF "DEATH SENTENCES"!!!
AND HONOR UNTO ALL WHO INSIST THAT EVERY CITIZENS's LIFE BE VALUED AND EVERY PRISONER BE REINVESTIGATED TO ENSURE THERE WAS THE "RIGHT TO CHARGE!" AND ALSO THE "RIGHT TO SEND SOMEONE TO A PRISON!!!"
 

Ge ARACELI (80)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 8:01 am


HERE IS A LINK
to THE CORRUPTION that IS PREVALENT IN THE USA
to the SHAME OF THE USA
MURDERING INNOCENT PEOPLE
and THE USA NOT YET CHARGING SUCH STATES WITH MURDER
FOR THEIR "RIGHT TO INCITE MURDEROUS DECREES UPON THE INNOCENT!"
THE USA ADDS TO ITS MIGHTY SHAME ONE SHAME AFTER ANOTHER!!!

http://www.care2.com/news/member/338686546/1266109

BE GOOD THAT OUR NOBEL WINNING PRESIDENT Obama
GO AFTER TEXAS AND EVERY STATE IN THE USA
AND CHAGE THOSE STATES WITH MURDER!
M
U
R
D
E
R

FOR HAVING EXECUTED THE INNOCENT!!!

NOW THAT WOULD BE FOR PRESIDENTS ACROSS NATIONS A GOOD NOTE, certainly.
NOBLE WORK!
ENDING TERRORISM ON THEIR OWN SOIL AGAINST THEIR OWN PEOPLE COMMITTED BY THEIR OWN FOLKS IN CALLOUS AND DELIBERATE VIOLENCE!!!

SUCH AS THE CRIMES OF VIOLENCE THAT INMATES IN THE USA ENDURE EVERY DAY!
THAT WOULD BE NOBEL PRIZE WORTHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

INVESTIGATE OUR USA PRISONS AND ENSURE THAT ONLY GUILTY ARE THERE!
THAT ASSUREDLY WOULD BE HUMAN RIGHTS
AND
UTTERLY NOBEL WORTHY!!!

I CAN JUST ENVISION A PRESIDENT RECIPIENT OF NOBEL PRIZES FOR THIS WORK!

WILL IT BE THE USA? OR ANOTHER?
OR MANY NATIONS STANDING UP FOR THEIR CITIZENS AND TOGETHER SHARING
THAT DESERVED NOBEL PEACE PRIZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


THE SAME NATIONS' LEADERS
SHARING THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR THEIR ENDING THE VIOLENCE ON WOMEN!
NEVER TOLERATING AGAIN THE heterosexual males CONTINUAL SHAMING their Nation
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NO TOLERANCE OF RAPING!
NO TOLERANCE OF VIOLENTLY ATTACKING!!!
and btw
YES... all the STATISTICS PROVE the MAIN PREDATOR is the heterosexual male.
and the MAIN TARGET: the FEMALE PEOPLE!

NOW
WITHOUT QUESTION IS THE FUTURE PRESIDENTS AND NATIONS LEADERS
RECIPIENTS OF THE NOBEL PRIZE
AND I DO BELIEVE MANY MANY MANY NATIONS WILL SHARE THE PRIZE THAT YEAR!

WITH THEIR GREAT WORK IN HUMAN RIGHTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

be FINE that THE USA has a President WITH THEM recipient of that HONOR!
 

Brad C. (33)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 9:31 am
Signed, noted and posted to my Facebook and e-mailed friends.
 

Catherine Turley (45)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 11:15 am
i think the key to abolishing the death penalty in america is addressing the perceived biblical condonation. my kindest, sweetest christian friends are pro-death penalty because they believe god sanctions an eye for an eye.
 

dve d. (32)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 12:08 pm
o m g is this true as this is terrible and unhuman
 

Brigitte T. (52)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 12:26 pm
David, there are groups and organisations that have been figthing against the 3 Strike Law from the start, but so far, things have not changed (as far as I know). Also a great number of these prisoners do not have money for lawyers, and because of their 25-Life sentence, family and friends often give up on them. I am not even sure that a lawyer could do something, unless that law changes. And I read that a disproportionate ratio of inmates sentenced under the 3 strikes law belong to minorities.
 

Katrin F. (184)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 12:43 pm
Disgusting! Noted, signed & shared on Facebook. Thanks David.
 

Brigitte T. (52)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 1:00 pm
Do you know the story of Gary Graham? A black boy, arrested when he was 17. An innocent executed by the State of Texas in 2000.

"Graham's case received widespread attention, in part because of substantial evidence indicating that he was innocent of the murder charge, and the indisputable fact that his court-appointed trial lawyer failed to mount a serious legal defense. Graham was convicted of killing grocery store clerk Bobby Lambert on May 13, 1981 during a robbery attempt. Graham was 17 years old at the time."

There was no physical evidence linking him to the crime and only one eyewitness who identified him as the murderer. Eyewitnesses who told police investigators Graham was not the killer were never called to testify at trial by Graham's lawyer.

A ballistics report showed that the bullet that killed Lambert did not come from the weapon found on Graham. However the defense counsel did not introduce this evidence at trial, nor did he obtain the testimony of available witnesses who could have provided Graham with an alibi.

Despite repeated efforts by Graham to obtain a hearing at the appeals level, no court agreed to hear testimony from witnesses supporting his innocence." [From the article below]

In cold blood: the state murder of Gary Graham
By Kate Randall
23 June 2000

"American death row inmate Gary Graham was executed Thursday night in Huntsville, Texas. Graham, 36, also known as Shaka Sankofa, maintained his innocence to the end. He was killed by lethal injection in an action epitomizing the brutality of the US judicial system.

Immediately following the state killing, eyewitnesses came before television cameras and reported that Graham had resisted the prison authorities. An “extraction team” forcibly removed him from his holding cell, handcuffed him to a gurney and covered his body with a sheet. Despite the covering, bruises were evident on Graham's upper arms.

The prisoner, who had spent the last 19 years of his life on death row, delivered a six-minute final statement as he lay strapped to the gurney, his head immobilized by a restraint. “I die fighting for what I believed in,” Graham said, “and the truth will come out.” He urged that his case be taken to an international court, and called for a moratorium on executions. He addressed the relatives of murder victim Bobby Lambert, reiterating that he had not killed Lambert in 1981.

Graham continued, “Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. stood up for what is just...You can kill a revolutionary, but you can't stop a revolution.” He said that a videotape was available showing him being sprayed with pepper gas prior to his execution.

He concluded, “This is nothing more than murder, state sanctioned murder in America.” Graham died following the intravenous injection of three lethal drugs—one rendering him unconscious, one to stop his breathing and one to stop his heart. He was pronounced dead at 8:49 pm Central Daylight Time.

On Wednesday evening Graham had been moved 45 miles from his cell on death row to the prison in downtown Huntsville. According to prison officials, he had promised to “fight like hell” on the trip to the death chamber, and officers had to hold him down to shackle his wrists and ankles before transferring him to the execution facility. In a vindictive move to punish him for his resistance, prison authorities denied him a visit from a woman friend as he awaited execution.

He was held in a cell only a few feet away from the death chamber as the execution team awaited word from the US Supreme Court for the execution to proceed. Shortly after 7 pm word came that the high court had voted to deny an appeal from Graham's lawyers to stay his execution. The vote was 5 to 4, with the majority of extreme right-wingers headed by Chief Justice Rehnquist, which has consistently voted to curb democratic rights, sealing the prisoner's fate.

In a final effort to stop the execution, Graham's lawyers filed a civil suit in a Federal district court in Austin, Texas, contending that his civil rights had been denied. A Federal judge rejected the suit.

Protests, both national and international, failed to prevail on Texas Governor George W. Bush, the presumptive Republican candidate for president in the November election, to stop the execution, and it proceeded as protesters gathered outside the Huntsville facility.

About 500 demonstrators, carrying placards and banners, protested the execution, while a half-dozen or so death penalty supporters were on hand, some waving confederate flags. Two hundred Texas Ranger state troopers, many in riot gear, patrolled outside the Walls Unit in Huntsville, and about a dozen protesters were arrested after they broke through police barricades." [...]

"George W. Bush reaffirmed his support for the death penalty on the eve of Graham's execution." [...]

"Vice President Al Gore, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, refused to second-guess Bush or the Texas pardon board. He did, however, take the occasion to reassert his support for the death penalty, while admitting that some innocent people would inevitably be executed."
 

Brigitte T. (52)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 1:09 pm
The Last Statement of Shaka Sankofa (Gary Graham) from TDJC:
http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/grahamgarylast.htm

I would like to say that I did not kill Bobby Lambert. That I'm an innocent black man that is being murdered. This is a lynching that is happening in America tonight. There's overwhelming and compelling evidence of my defense that has never been heard in any court of America. What is happening here is an outrage for any civilized country to anybody anywhere to look at what's happening here is wrong.

I thank all of the people that have rallied to my cause. They've been standing in support of me. Who have finished with me.

I say to Mr. Lambert's family, I did not kill Bobby Lambert. You are pursuing the execution of an innocent man.

I want to express my sincere thanks to all of ya'll. We must continue to move forward and do everything we can to outlaw legal lynching in America. We must continue to stay strong all around the world, and people must come together to stop the systematic killing of poor and innocent black people. We must continue to stand together in unity and to demand a moratorium on all executions. We must not let this murder/lynching be forgotten tonight,
my brothers. We must take it to the nation. We must keep our faith. We must go forward. We recognize that many leaders have died. Malcom X, Martin Luther King, and others who stood up for what was right. They stood up for what was just. We must, you must brothers, that's why I have called you today. You must carry on that condition. What is here is just a lynching
that is taking place. But they're going to keep on lynching us for the next 100 years, if you do not carry on that tradition, and that period of resistance. We will prevail. We may loose this battle, but we will win the war. This death, this lynching will be avenged. It will be avenged, it must be avenged. The people must avenge this murder. So my brothers, all of ya'll stay strong, continue to move forward.

Know that I love all of you. I love the people, I love all of you for your blessing, strength, for your courage, for your dignity, the way you have come here tonight, and the way you have protested and kept this nation together. Keep moving forward, my brothers. Slavery couldn't stop us. The lynching couldn't stop us in the south. This lynching will not stop us tonight. We will go forward. Our destiny in this country is freedom and liberation. We will gain our freedom and liberation by any means necessary. By any means necessary, we keep marching forward.

I love you, Mr. Jackson. Bianca, make sure that the state does not get my body. Make sure that we get my name as Shaka Sankofa. My name is not Gary Graham. Make sure that it is properly presented on my grave. Shaka Sankofa.

I died fighting for what I believe in. I died fighting for what was just and what was right. I did not kill Bobby Lambert, and the truth is going to come out. It will be brought out.

I want you to take this thing off into international court, Mr. Robert Mohammed and all ya'll. I want you, I want to get my family and take this down to international court and file a law suit. Get all the video tapes of all the beatings. They have beat me up in the back. They have beat me up at the unit over there. Get all the video tapes supporting that law suit. And make the public exposed to the genocide and this brutality world, and let the world see what is really happening here behind closed doors. Let the world see the barbarity and injustice of what is really happening here. You must get those video tapes. You must make it exposed, this injustice, to the world. You must continue to demand a moratorium on all executions. We must
move forward Minister Robert Mohammed.

Ashanti Chimurenga, I love you for standing with me, my sister. You are a strong warrior queen. You will continue to be strong in everything that you do. Believe in yourself, you must hold your head up, in the spirit of Winnie Mandela, in the spirit of Nelson Mandela. Ya'll must move forward. We will stop this lynching.

Reverend Al Sharpton, I love you, my brother.

Bianca Jagger, I love all of you. Ya'll make sure that we continue to stand together.

Reverend Jesse Jackson and know that this murder, this lynching will not be forgotten. I love you, too, my brother. This is genocide in America. This is what happens to black men when they stand up and protest for what is right and just. We refuse to compromise, we refuse to surrender the dignity for what we know is right. But we will move on, we have been strong in the past. We will continue to be strong as a people. You can kill a revolutionary, but you cannot stop the revolution. The revolution will go on. The people will carry the revolution on. You are the people that must carry that revolutionary on, in order to liberate our children from this genocide and for what is happening here in America tonight. What has happened for the
last 100 or so years in America. This is the part of the genocide, this is part of the African (unintelligible), that we as black people have endured in America. But we shall overcome, we will continue with this. We will continue, we will gain our freedom and liberation, by any means necessary. Stay strong. They cannot kill us. We will move forward.

To my sons, to my daughters, all of you. I love all of you. You have been wonderful. Keep your heads up. Keep moving forward. Keep united. Maintain the love and unity in the community.

And know that victory is assured. Victory for the people will be assured. We will gain our freedom and liberation in this country. We will gain it and we will do it by any means necessary. We will keep marching. March on black people. Keep your heads high. March on. All ya'll leaders. March on. Take your message to the people. Preach the moratorium for all executions. We're gonna stop, we are going to end the death penalty in this country. We are
going to end it all across this world. Push forward people. And know that what ya'll are doing is right. What ya'll are doing is just. This is nothing more that pure and simple murder. This is what is happening tonight in America. Nothing more than state sanctioned murders, state sanctioned lynching, right here in America, and right here tonight. This is what is happening my brothers. Nothing less. They know I'm innocent. They've got the facts to prove it. They know I'm innocent. But they cannot acknowledge my innocence, because to do so would be to publicly admit their guilt. This is something these racist people will never do. We must remember brothers, this is what we're faced with. You must take this endeavor forward. You must stay strong. You must continue to hold your heads up, and to be there. And I love
you, too, my brother. All of you who are standing with me in solidarity. We will prevail.
We will keep marching. Keep marching black people, black power. Keep marching black people, black power. Keep marching black people. Keep marching black people.

They are killing me tonight. They are murdering me tonight...

At this point the lethal injection took effect and Shaka went silent, looking with one eye open towards the Rev Jackson . . .
 

MICHELE V. (99)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 1:20 pm
NOTED AND SIGNED! JUST PLAIN SICK!!!!!!!!!!
 

Gillian M. (105)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 1:46 pm
I have been signing petitions and sending emails to stop child hanging in countries such as Iran - who then tell us that they will not hang the child in question then do it 3 days later! Other Arab countries will hang little girls for being raped or sexually abused if they complain. The only reason no one does anything is that they want the oil. They are signatories of the UN child agreement where no country will try a child as an adult whether or not they are 18 at the time of the trial if they were under 18 at the time of the alleged crime.

America is also such a signatory and the courts should have stopped the hanging of Gary Graham. But then America does what it wants when it wants then has the cheek to tell other countries how to behave!
 

stan b. (40)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 1:51 pm
Newa just announced from IRAN.



On Saturday Isna quoted Zahed Bashiri Rad, a justice ministry official, as saying: "Three people who were accused (for their role) in the post-election incidents have been sentenced to death."

Referring to the three using only initials, Mr Rad said "MZ" and "AP" had been convicted for ties with the Kingdom Assembly of Iran, a banned monarchist group, and "NA" for links with the People's Mujahideen, another group advocating the overthrow of the Islamic republic.

On Thursday, an Iranian reformist website reported that Mr Zamani, 37, had been sentenced to death. It is unclear whether he is the "MZ" mentioned by Isna.

The London-based human-rights group Amnesty International has condemned the reported death sentence on Mr Zamani, and called his trial a "mockery of justice".

 

Anne T. (185)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 2:15 pm
Definitly signed!
Thankyou David.
 

Past Member (0)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 2:59 pm
Signed
 

Ann C. (128)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 4:00 pm
Signed and noted,thank you!!! :o))
 

wood dragon (10)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 5:47 pm
Thank you for informing me of the petition. Noted and signed...
Peace to you...
wooddragon
 

Raja G. (134)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 10:02 pm
It appears a large %age the Australians have not fully evolved. They are still in the 1st Century barbarism
Death penalty to Children and the racist attack on fofreigners show that they need to evolve to become normal human beings of this current era
 

Ellen M. (8)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 10:51 pm
Noted and signed. Posted on FB. hope someone reads it.
 

Marena Chen (200)
Saturday October 10, 2009, 11:40 pm
Raja, what has your comment got to do with child execution? There are NO child executions in Australia and never have been. It seems to me that YOU are the racist here.

I have always been against the death penalty, even when I was a judge - but please do NOT tell me that teenagers don't know what they are doing is wrong when committing crimes. Most of those crimes were very well planed and executed. I saw hundreds and hundreds of cases while on the bench and as a practising solicitor. I don't believe executions are the right penalty. Convicted criminals should have to live with the knowledge of what they have done. Execution is the easy way out for them. At least, in case new evidence comes to light of their possible innocense, they will be able to get out of prison. Once they are dead, they are dead....NOT GOOD...!!!
 

Nan B. (50)
Sunday October 11, 2009, 12:34 am
Signed & Noted
This leaves me speachless. Nothing is sacred anymore, not even life...
 

Alba Nuova (62)
Sunday October 11, 2009, 12:44 am
I have signed (and found other worthy actions, as well, to take on Amnesty's site - look in the right-hand column of the posted page).

Condemning children to death, executing children & teenagers, is the most awful act a state can carry out.

Atrocious for the young person and their family, the implications for the state and society are terrifying in cynicism for it is based on a judgement & world view that there is no hope for mankind. It is really saying that there is no such thing as rehabiliation, or redemption. I am not religious, for those who are we do know that redemption is a crucial theme in Christianity (Islam, I don't know) yet it is a society which gives a lot of lipservice to God & Jesus -the US- where children were executed until 1990, and can still get life. Executing anyone is a rejection of the notion of redemption in the spiritual dimension, and rehabilitation from the point of view of society. Societies that commit child executions have lost their soul.

Gandhi is famous for his quote about animals: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated" -- I would substitute 'children' for animals, & the statement still holds.

Raja seems to have sorely misinterpreted this post, for we are not speaking about Australia, Amnesty does not cite Australia in this petition, but Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Sudan & Iran. Amnesty also says that the US stopped executing children 1990. That was almost 20 years ago and thank goodness that is behind us now!
I imagine that the case Brigitte has denounced here in her comment did not benefit from this change because the crime occurred in 1981. What a shame it was not applied retroactively !

One of the most compelling reasons for opposing the death penalty for adults, too, is that so many innocent people are found guilty of capital crimes. Until law enforcement and the justice system become infallible, there should be a moratorium on capital punishment. That's what Illinois Governor George Ryan did in 2000 : this Republican advocate of capital punishment imposed a death penalty-moratorium citing "grave concerns about our state's shameful record of convicting innocent people and putting them on death row." Since Illinois' 1977 reinstatement of the death penalty, 12 Death Row inmates had been executed while 13 had been exonerated. A torture ring of Chicago detectives which targetted African-American men & boys and had gotten over 200 false confessions, had acted with total impunity for over 30 years! The scandal broke in the mid or late 1990's, but the first arrest only came last Oct (2008) : Families of Victims Tortured By Chicago Detectives Rejoice at First Arrest in 25-Yr Fight for Justice

Without going to such extremes, having such a rare case to point to, until our justice system provides justice for everyone equally regardless of class and/or race, until prosecuters & police can be trusted to seek the truth rather than career advancement & speedy solutions, there should be a moratorium on the death penalty in the US.
 

Michael Rooney (4)
Sunday October 11, 2009, 3:14 am
This law to execute people is against all civil rights. It show that humanity is still a barbaric species when it cannot find ways of punishment other than murder.
 

julie j. (90)
Sunday October 11, 2009, 4:27 am
Barbaric and just horrible, how can anyone murder a child? beggars belief.x Thanks David
 

chris b. (1163)
Sunday October 11, 2009, 6:19 am
The UK gave up the death penaltyyears ago and there have been a number of wrongful convictions since but as another poster says there is not a lot you can do once you have killed someone about making recompense! I note on the Amnesty site that a man has been on deathrow for over 40 years in Japan they are obviously as barbaric to offenders sa the US justice system it must sure be worse stting there waiting to be killed rather then it being carried out after sentence! Much better to have no judicial murder and in an ideal world no murder at all! Killing children appears to be the depths of depravity and very removed from civilised activity but before ranting about the places that are doing this we should make sure our own state is not doing similar things like in some parts of America where people are not only killed but sometimes have to wait years for either death or freedom! It was also interesting to note on Amnesty that the Japanese have still not apologised or accepted reponsibility for the sexual enslavement of 200,000 "Comfort Woman" during WW2 They have a funny way with words by painting "Research" on their commercial whaling fleet when the "execute" ie murder innocent and by all accounts mercury laden toxic whales!
 

chris b. (1163)
Sunday October 11, 2009, 6:40 am
I think Raga must have got a bit confused in his comments about Australia and it is interesting to note Marena's wise words from her judicial experience. Children knowing right from wrong and also her opposition to the death penalty. Mirroring my own belief almost that the punishment should fit the crime. For example animal abusers should be made to work in animal shelters cleaning up the mess. drunk drivers should do menial cleaning duties in casualty departments clearing up the mess left by other drunks, graffiti sprayers should clean the mess up you get the picture I'm sure. In other words confronting their crime and the effects on the victims and maybe they learn the lesson do I really want to inflict this stuff on anyone. Obviously cases of murder are going to be a bit more difficult to cope with depending on the individual circumstance but it still needs to be faced up to and obviuosly you can't bring back the victim but it might be possible to effect an explanation if not an apology for the loss to survivors. The first question most survivors ask is why! It might even give them some closure!
 

David F. (6)
Sunday October 11, 2009, 7:06 am
Thanks David from another member of AI. The UN has a commission on childrens rights that everyone should read. Only two countries have not signed it - Albania and the US.
 

Gudrun D. (95)
Sunday October 11, 2009, 8:19 am
Signed. Thanks David.
 

Jay Simms (21)
Sunday October 11, 2009, 8:35 am
Signed. Thank you David.

I do wish certain people would focus on the subject matter and refrain from posting comments which have nothing whatever to do with it.

Unfortunately, the countries in question still choose to oppose international law by pursuing a somewhat distorted subculture, deviating from what is considered moral, right, proper or good. The execution of children is one example.
 

Kari D. (168)
Sunday October 11, 2009, 10:06 am
Thank you
Thank you for signing our petition to put an end to the execution of juvenile offenders. Together we can consign this practice to history, as surely as slavery or apartheid.

 

Barbara B. (0)
Sunday October 11, 2009, 10:41 am
What has this world come to?? Why on Earth would anyone from any culture want to execute their own race? Where's their future in that?
 

Angie W. (272)
Sunday October 11, 2009, 10:46 am
Thank you signed xx
 

Catherine Turley (45)
Sunday October 11, 2009, 10:56 am
if i'm not mistaken, i think raja is referring to david as the australian who is posting a racist condemnation of middle eastern countries. i can only speak for myself, but i would be equally outraged at any country that allows children to be executed. and like someone mentioned, it wasn't long ago that the u.s. did the same thing.

also, i agree that children know right from wrong, but there is scientific evidence that their brains aren't entirely developed until about the age of 25. for that reason, every country should distinguish between child and adult when determining treatment or punishment.
 

Catherine Turley (45)
Sunday October 11, 2009, 11:02 am
on second thought, it probably is because it's amnesty australia.
 

Kelly c. (103)
Sunday October 11, 2009, 11:54 am
Astrocious!! Thanks for this!
 

KRISTEN B. (107)
Sunday October 11, 2009, 1:16 pm
I AM SPEECHLESS......
 

Past Member (0)
Sunday October 11, 2009, 2:59 pm
I need to find the petition link. Thank you.
 

Pieter P. (0)
Sunday October 11, 2009, 7:31 pm
David you have my support,
 

mary f. (74)
Monday October 12, 2009, 1:48 am
signed
 

Joycey B. (693)
Monday October 12, 2009, 5:53 am
Gladly signed. Thanks for bringing this to our attention David.

Thank you for signing our petition to put an end to the execution of juvenile offenders. Together we can consign this practice to history, as surely as slavery or apartheid.
 

Amena A. (109)
Monday October 12, 2009, 10:18 am
Happy to sign, thanks, David. You certainly spark the liveliest discussions on your posts. Delightful. :)
 

David Buchan (164)
Monday October 12, 2009, 12:01 pm
"I need to find the petition link."...Did you press the green 'visit site' button Elzabeth? :)
 

Nancy Welch (67)
Wednesday October 14, 2009, 7:28 pm
5238 submissions so far. Noted and signed with many thanks!
 

Alexandra Marce M. (48)
Wednesday October 14, 2009, 11:40 pm
AND NOW FOR MY OPINION....ANYONE WHO MURDERS A CHILD, IS A SADIST/PSYCHO IN THE VIEW OF THIS CANADIAN SECURITY GUARD, AND I TOTALLY SUPPORT THE DEATH PENALTY.....I HAVE SEEN TOO MANY CASES ON THE NANCY GRACE PROGRAM AND COURT TV, TO SUPPORT MY THEORIES....SO I SAY DEATH TO ANYONE WHO HARMS AN ANIMAL OR CHILD, AND INCIDENTALLY, I HAVE STARTED A PETITION ON BRINGING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY INTO CANADA, SOME 3 WEEKS AGO, BUT AM NOT CRAMMING IT DOWN EVERYONES' THROATS, AS I RESPECT THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE.....STILL, WE DON'T NEED DEVIANTS LIKE SCOTT PETERSON, OR CASEY ANTHONY, AROUND....BUT I DIGRESS.....ANYHOW-- SORRY TO RUN FROM THE TOPIC AT HAND, BUT IN MY VIEW....EVERYTHING TIES IN.......SECURITY GUARD/ACTIVIST, ALEXANDRA MARCELLA MANOLESCO-AMI!!
 

Gillian M. (105)
Friday October 16, 2009, 4:57 pm
Alexandra, I understand where you are coming from in this but belive that life, meaning life ie never getting out again, may be the best alternative. I have seen a few cases where, many years down the line, the perpetrator was found to be innocent by new methods of testing for DNA or a witness finally coming forward or even an arrested person offering new information to have their sentence reduced. Such a sentence should also apply to someone who kills a policeman (case here recently where a conviction nearly 30 years later overturned), serial killer or serial rapist. Punishment must be that, punishment, and protection of the public.
 

Ralph X. (69)
Friday October 16, 2009, 11:31 pm
In my world there is no discussion about the death penalty because people have understood that killing is absolutely nonsense. Who has understood what humans are, and what the whole creation is, cannot kill because it would mean killing a part of oneself. The human race is still at the beginning of understanding anything. Torture planet earth. That's where we live. Recently the EU made the death penalty possible in Europe (Contract of Lissabon). WE EVEN CAN DEVELOP BACKWARDS!
 

Merry Loscalzo-Stumpf (75)
Sunday October 18, 2009, 3:43 pm
Noted, Thank you. Signed and thoroughly disgusted in humans!
 

Julie van Niekerk (134)
Monday October 19, 2009, 5:28 am
I was 6 years old and stole a peach from a shop. I felt so guilty because I knew I did wrong. For months I would not visit that shop. Why is it that youngsters nowadays become criminals. What went wrong?
 
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