Contact: Samantha Friedman, West End Strategy Team, [email protected], Office: (202) 776-7700, Cell: (202) 215-9260, @AIUSAmedia
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – In the aftermath of the drawn-out Arizona execution last night of Joseph R. Wood III, in which he was reported to have potentially suffered, Amnesty International USA executive director Steven W. Hawkins expressed his frustration and ongoing opposition to capital punishment. Hawkins is an expert on lethal injection protocols and a former attorney for inmates on death row.
“Capital punishment is cruel, inhuman and degrading, and the distressing case of Joseph R. Wood III’s potentially botched execution in Arizona is only the latest example of why this abhorrent practice must be abolished in the United States. More than a third of U.S. states have now abolished capital punishment, and our efforts to generate opposition for the death penalty will continue until each and every state follows suit. As a country that talks a big game about valuing human rights and setting a model for others across the globe, we should be ashamed of ourselves when domestically, the United States continues to execute prisoners.”
Amnesty International USA’s Abolish the Death Penalty landing page has the latest news, statistics and action items on the issue.
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 3 million members in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.