Taiwan carries out first execution in five years, upsetting EU, rights groups

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan carried out its first execution in five years late on Thursday, upsetting both rights groups and the European Union which called on the government to maintain its de facto moratorium on the death penalty.

Despite Taiwan's reputation as Asia's most liberal democracy, the death penalty remains broadly popular according to opinion polls, though in recent years it has only rarely been carried out and violent crime is relatively low.

In September, Taiwan's constitutional court ruled that the death penalty is constitutional but only for the most serious crimes with the most rigorous legal scrutiny, after considering a petition brought by 37 people who were then on death row.

Taiwan's Justice Ministry said in a statement that Huang Lin-kai had been executed at the Taipei Detention Centre, having been sentenced to death in 2017 for the 2013 murder of his ex-girlfriend and her mother. He also raped his ex-girlfriend.

The ministry said Huang's execution was consistent with the intention of the constitutional court's September ruling and that the nature of his crime was "obviously inhumane and extremely vicious".

Taiwan last put someone to death in April 2020, which also drew censure from the EU days after the bloc had publicly thanked Taipei for donating face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The EU's diplomatic service said in reaction to Huang's execution that it "calls on Taiwan to apply and maintain a de facto moratorium, and to pursue a consistent policy towards the full abolition of the death penalty in Taiwan", noting its unequivocal opposition to the death penalty.

While Taiwan's largest opposition party the Kuomintang voiced its support for capital punishment, rights groups expressed dismay.

"This execution is a shocking and brutal development," said E-Ling Chiu, the Taiwan director of rights group Amnesty International.

The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty, in a joint statement with three other rights groups, said executions would "only make society more bloodthirsty".

Its Facebook page was then flooded with comments in support of the death penalty.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Christopher Cushing)