The death penalty debate has burst back onto Taiwan’s political agenda, costing the justice minister her job in a sign of just how sensitive the issue remains on the island.

It is more than four years since Taiwan last put someone to death, but when Wang Ching-feng said last week she would not order any executions during her term, she drew a storm of criticism that led to her speedy resignation.
 

"We have a long way to go before Taiwan formally abolishes the death penalty," said Hsueh Chin-feng, head of the Human Protection Committee at the Taipei Bar Association, which campaigns for an end to capital punishment.

"Wang's resignation has dealt a further blow to the cause of ending capital punishment. More obstacles are emerging."
 

Like many Asian countries, including Japan, Taiwan maintains the death penalty, reserving it for serious crimes including aggravated murder, kidnapping and robbery.
 

This continues a strong tradition in Chinese legal thinking dating back more than 2,000 years calling for severe punishments to ensure citizens remain law abiding.
 

Opinion polls suggest widespread backing on the island for capital punishment with no significant erosion of support over the years.
 

About 74 percent of 792 Taiwanese interviewed by the Taipei based United Daily News last week said they supported the position, against just 12 percent who opposed it.
 

Even so, the fact that nobody has been executed since late 2005, leaving 44 convicts in death row limbo, reflects serious doubts among the political elite. Wang's predecessor also opposed the death penalty.
 

At the same time, a number of high profile cases may have helped lead to subtle changes in public attitudes.

Death sentences
One of them is that concerning 37 year old Su Chien-ho, who has lived under the shadow of a death sentence for a gruesome double murder for most of his adult life.
 

Su was originally sentenced to death in 1995 and after a series of trials faces a further retrial ordered by the Supreme Court.
 

"My life has turned dark over this case. I have spent my best years locked up in a small jail cell," he told AFP in an interview.
 

Rights groups have seized on Su's situation as an example of a flawed case, saying his initial confession was extracted under torture.

And campaigners warn of the risk of executing the innocent.
 

Su remembers when he was 23 and on death row, and was asked to help a convict of the same age spend the last hours before his execution.
 

As the young man was dragged away to be shot, he turned to Su and said: "I'm innocent."
 

Among those who want to see the death penalty stay is Pai Ping-ping, one of the island's best known entertainers.
 

"If the law can't serve as a last line of defence for the protection of good and honest citizens, we might as well just get rid of it all," she said in a statement faxed to AFP.

Pai's stance strikes a chord in Taiwan because her teenage daughter was kidnapped, raped and murdered in a widely publicised case in the 1990s.
 

Huang Juei-min, a law professor at Taichung's Providence University, is among several scholars who opposes abolition.
 

"Those who are placed on death row have committed cruel crimes. They should face the consequences," Huang said.
 

"When human rights organisations are calling for protecting the rights of murderers, who cares about the families of their victims?"
 

Source: AFP