5,000,000 signatures for moratorium collected

The community of Sant’Egidio and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty have collected five millions signatures from around the world calling for a moratorium on executions. According to their press release,

A delegation of anti-death penalty activists from around the world will meet with the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Srgian Kerim, on Friday, November 2, at 10:30 AM, to deliver a petition containing over five million signatures that urge the General Assembly to pass a resolution calling for a global moratorium on executions.

The delegation, led by Mario Marazziti of the Community of Sant'Egidio, will include Sister Helen Prejean, leading American advocate of the abolition of the death penalty and the woman behind the movie Dead Man Walking, Yvonne Terlingen, Head of Amnesty International's UN Office in New York, Renny Cushing, Marie Verzulli, and Bill Babbitt from Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, an international organization of victims' family members and family members of the executed, Speedy Rice from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Elizabeth Zitrin, member of the executive board of Death Penalty Focus.

Angola, Albania, Brazil, Croatia, Gabon, Mexico, the Philippines, Portugal (for the EU), and New Zealand are presenting the text of the resolution to the General Assembly as a cross-regional initiative. Close to one hundred other countries have signed on as co-sponsors.

After meeting with the President of the General Assembly, the delegation will hold a press conference at 11:00 AM at UNCA CLUB, UN, Room 326, at the Third Floor of UN Headquarters.

Videotaped statements will also be available from Rev. Rowan Williams, Primate of the Church of England (London), Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (Buenos Aires), Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, President of the Pontifical Council Justice and Peace (Vatican City), and Siti Musdah Muliva, Moslem theologian at the University of Jakarta.

Appointments:

UN HEADQUARTERS

UN, 10.30, President's office

UN, 11 AM, UNCA CLUB, Room 326, Third Floor

Contacts:

Mario Marazziti

Telephone: +39 335 726 3641

Mobile +39 346 850 1247

email/blackberry: m.marazziti@gmail.com

Yvonne Terlingen

Telephone +1212 867 8878 ext 2

Mobile + 1917 406 1185

Fax +1212 370 0183