DEATH PENALTY IN NIGERIA AND SAUDI ARABIA

That this House welcomes the two Amnesty International reports entitled, Waiting for the Hangman and Affront to Justice; notes with concern that over 700 people are currently under sentence of death in Nigeria's prisons; is concerned to hear reports of evidence indicating Nigerians cannot rely on their criminal justice system to produce results that are either fair or accurate; further notes that executions in Saudi Arabia have risen sharply in the last two years, with a fourfold increase from 2006; further notes with concern that death sentences in Saudi Arabia are often imposed at the end of largely secret and unfair trial processes with many defendants being executed for non-violent or vaguely worded offences; and calls on both the Saudi Arabian and Nigerian governments to impose a moratorium on executions, as called for by the UN General Assembly in December 2007.