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TAIPEI: Taiwan's justice minister Thursday faced mounting calls from politicians and activists to resign after she vowed not to allow any death sentences during her term.
Wang Ching-feng said Wednesday that she would rather quit than order the execution of the 44 convicts currently on death row, adding she was willing to die in their place or "descend to hell" for them.
Her comments immediately sparked a barrage of criticism, with some legislators and pro-capital punishment activists calling for her resignation.
"Wang should enforce the law which stipulates the execution but she wants to protect the perpetrators. She should step down for openly defying the law," said Lo Shu-lei, a lawmaker of the ruling Kuomintang party.
Entertainer Pai Ping-ping, an outspoken supporter of the death penalty whose daughter was kidnapped, raped and murdered in the 1990s, also demanded Wang quit for hurting the victims of brutal crimes.
"We should sympathise with the victims and give them justice as the law is the last defence to protect the people. Wang is leaning toward the evil side and she is unfit for the job," Pai told reporters.
Undeterred, Wang, who has been in the job since May 2008, insisted that abolishing the death penalty would help bring about a more modern system of law enforcement.
"We should do the right thing and convince the public to support us. Whether I stay (as minister) or quit is not that important," she told reporters.
Her sentiment appeared to be at odds with mainstream public opinion, as the latest poll showed a majority was against abolishing death sentence, which is carried out with a gunshot to the back of the neck or to the heart.
About 74 percent of 792 people interviewed by the United Daily News on Wednesday supported capital punishment, against 12 percent who opposed it.
Taiwan carried out its last execution in 2005. Wang said the murder rate had not increased in the years since then.
- AFP/ir
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