A prominent human rights group has slammed the US federal government for carrying out its first lethal execution of a death row prisoner in 17 years after Daniel Lee was put to death earlier on Tuesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2020) A prominent human rights group has slammed the US Federal government for carrying out its first lethal execution of a death row prisoner in 17 years after Daniel Lee was put to death earlier on Tuesday.
"We're horrified the federal government carried out the first federal execution in 17 years, going against global trends away from the death penalty, and the 34 US states that have abolished the death penalty in law or not carried out an execution in at least 10 years," Kristina Roth, senior program officer for Amnesty International USA's Criminal Justice Program, was quoted as saying in a Twitter post by the rights group.
Roth said that the decision was even more egregious given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as holding the execution may have contributed to the spread of the disease. The rights group also cited the opposition to the execution expressed by victims' relatives.
"This execution went against the wishes of the victim's mother Earlene Peterson who plead with president [Donald] Trump not to execute Daniel Lee," Roth said.
Daniel Lee had been on death row since 1999 after being found guilty of the torture and murder of three people in the US state of Arkansas. He was executed on Tuesday morning at the US Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.
