The witnesses who attended the Congress

To accomplish her deceased mother’s wish that Iwao should be exonerated, Hideko Hakamada, now 83 years old, has devotedly supported her younger brother. Iwao, aged 80, was arrested at the age of 30. He was sentenced to death and spent 47 years and 7 months in detention for murder. He is the world’s longest serving death row prisoner. On 27 March 2014, he was released following the decision to reopen the case but the decision is pending and he remains a convicted prisoner.

Peter was prosecuted, tried and wrongfully convicted of capital murder and robbery by the non-jury Special Criminal Court in Dublin, Ireland, in 1980. He was sentenced to death and 15 years of imprisonment. In 1981, his death sentence was commuted to 40 years of penal servitude without remission. He studied law and prepared his case under the Irish Constitution. He opened his case in the High Court in Dublin in January 1992, representing himself. He won his freedom in 1995. Sunny Jacobs and Peter Pringle each devoted themselves to healing and peace and reconciliation upon their respective releases. They met in 1998 and together have established the Sunny Center, a sanctuary especially dedicated to people who were wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit and who spent time on death row.
For more information about the Sunny Centre:
www.thesunnycenter.com

Byson Kaula was arrested in 1992 for the death of one of his employees who was seriously ill. After being held on remand for 7 years, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to the mandatory death penalty. In prison, he developed prisoner education programmes and quickly became known as “the professor” for his work teaching life skills to his fellow prisoners. After 23 years in prison, and multiple execution dates cancelled at the last minute, his sentence was commuted into life imprisonment before he was released in early 2015 after going before the judge again. Upon his release, Byson resided at the Prison Fellowship Malawi, a residence that helps newly released prisoners reintegrate into society. He has since left the residence but now volunteers as a teacher and a chaplain during the PFM’s prison visits.
For more information about Prison Fellowship Malawi :
https://www.facebook.com/Prison-Fellowship-Malawi-314822561964065/

Lubov Kovaleva is an active member of the coalition “Human Rights Defenders Against the Death Penalty in Belarus”. In 2012, she was awarded the Human Rights Defender Prize for her active support for her son, Vladislav Kovalev, and for her fight against the death penalty. Found guilty of collaborating with terrorists after the Minsk subway explosion in April 2011, Vladislav Kovalev was sentenced to death in a hasty trial marred by irregularities in November 2011. The execution took place in March 2012 while his individual complaint set down by Lubov Kovaleva for violations of the rights guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, was still being considered by the UN Human Rights Committee.

Sunny was tried for murder, convicted and wrongfully sentenced to death in Florida, USA, in 1976. As there was no death row for women at the prison where she was held, she spent 5 years sentenced to death into solitary confinement before spending a further 12 years among the general prison population to whom she began to teach yoga. With the help of lawyers who worked for many years without pay and friends who assisted them in the research, Sunny had her conviction overturned in 1992 and achieved her liberty.

Ndume spent 28 years in prison in the United States, 20 of them on death row, for a crime he did not commit. He was saved by his discovery of drawing and painting, and helped throughout his detention by his family and friends, and abolitionist organisations. Today, he continues to campaign powerfully against the death penalty through his contact with young people.

Sentenced to death in Uganda for killing her husband, Susan Kigula never stopped protesting her innocence. The instigator behind a choir for prisoners on death row and a law graduate from the University of London, she finally obtained her freedom after 15 years in prison. She has become a real symbol of the struggle against the death penalty in her country. Susan Kigula left prison in January 2016. She has since founded the Susan Kigula African Child Foundation.

Celia Veloso is the mother of Mary Jane Veloso who was arrested in Indonesia for drug trafficking and was sentenced to death in October 2010. Her family, together with the NGO Migrante International, launched a campaign to save Mary Jane, asserting that she was abused by a women who had recruited her in Malaysia. In April 2015, Mary Jane was transferred to a holding cell prior to her imminent execution. A last-minute turnaround saved her from execution, but her life is still on the line and Celia Veloso is tirelessly working for Mary Jane’s freedom.