Thailand on Monday conducted its first execution in nine years, Reuters reported. Prison officials executed Theerasak Longji with a lethal injection.
Amnesty International condemned the execution of the 26-year-old man convicted of murdering a 17-year-old in 2012. The convict had fatally stabbed his victim 24 times for his mobile phone.
The international organisation said Thailand could have achieved a milestone of 10 years without executions in 2019. “Today’s execution represents a major setback in the country’s journey towards abolition and puts a dark stain on its human rights record,” Amnesty International’s Thailand campaigner Katherine Gerson said.
Gerson said the Thai authorities were misguided in believing that the death penalty serves as a deterrent. “The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and provides no quick-fixes to problems the authorities want to confront,” Gerson said.
The organisation demanded an immediate suspension of any plans to conduct more executions and a moratorium on the implementation of the punishment. Amnesty International said 106 countries have abolished death penalty for all crimes and 142 are abolitionist in law or practice.
In 2003, Thailand changed its capital punishment from death by a firing squad to lethal injection. The death penalty is applicable to several crimes, including aggravated murder, in the country.
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