OCEANIA/PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Archbishop Young: concern for the 13 prisoners that will be executed

Mount Hagen (Agenzia Fides) - Papua New Guinea's Justice Minister says the execution of 13 people currently on death row will happen this year, despite strong opposition from human rights groups.
"Deep concern" and "absolute opposition to death penalty" were expressed by Msg. Douglas Young, Archbishop of Mount Hagen.
Kerenga Kua says the Constitutional Law Reform Commission is still trying to work out which methods of execution will be used and where they will take place. Execution methods that could be used include: suffocation, lethal injection, firing squad, electric shock, hanging.
Death penalty was reactivated in May 2013 by the government to tackle the problem of a growing crime rate, with the idea of "creating a more orderly and peaceful society".
Archbishop Yooung, speaking on behalf of the Bishops' Conference of Papaya New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, reiterated the condemnation of the decision to reinstate death penalty in the country, raising the call for the repeal. It is well known that death penalty, the Bishops say, is not an effective deterrent to fighting crime. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 31/01/2014)