A/HRC/45/20 41. Nevertheless, some individuals were denied their rights to seek pardon or commutation. 160 Reportedly in Malaysia the arbitrariness and secrecy that surround the handling of pardon petitions have aggravated the mental trauma of prisoners and exacerbated systemic flaws that undermine their right to this review. 161 In Pakistan, while the authority to pardon death row defendants lies with the President, in practice, a policy of blanket refusal of clemency applications is allegedly in place and no clemency applications have been granted.162 Reportedly, the mercy petitions procedure was reformed in 2019 and requires petitions to be completed by prison authorities on an online platform and annexed with necessary documentation.163 E. Methods of execution and prohibition of public executions 42. In resolution 2005/59, the Commission on Human Rights urged all States that still maintained the death penalty “to ensure that, where capital punishment still occurs, it shall be carried out so as to inflict the minimum possible suffering and shall not be carried out in public or in any other degrading manner, and to ensure that any application of particularly cruel or inhuman means of execution, such as stoning, be stopped immediately”. According to the Human Rights Committee, States parties that have not abolished the death penalty must carry it out in such a way as to cause the least possible physical and mental suffering 164 and respect article 7 of the Covenant, which prohibits certain methods of execution; the Committee has stated that those include injection of untested lethal drugs and public executions. 165 Failure to respect article 7 would render the execution arbitrary in nature and thus also in violation of article 6.166 43. A small number of States continued to conduct public executions during the reporting period, including Iran (Islamic Republic of) 167 and Saudi Arabia, where the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights noted that the body of one man who had been beheaded was subsequently put on public display. 168 The Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism considered that the use by Saudi Arabia of the death penalty was archaic, and inhuman and degrading, not only for the person who was executed but for all those who contributed to it or took part as spectators. It demeaned and degraded the people of Saudi Arabia as a whole. 169 During the universal periodic review, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea indicated that executions were carried out in public only in rare cases, after strong requests by the victim’s family and other concerned persons.170 44. The Human Rights Committee urged the Sudan to revoke stoning and crucifixion as officially sanctioned punishment,171 and Mauritania to remove all references to stoning as a method of execution. 172 In relation to Brunei Darussalam, mandate holders recalled that stoning as a method of execution violated the prohibition of torture and that that form of sanction was, beyond dispute, a violation of the prohibition of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.173 45. In the United States, the Supreme Court declared in one case that the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment “does not guarantee a prisoner a painless death”, with a method of 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 See www.hri.global/files/2020/02/28/HRI_DeathPenaltyReport2019.pdf, pp. 23–24. See www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/ACT5010782019ENGLISH.pdf, p. 44. CCPR/C/PAK/CO/1, para. 17. Justice Project Pakistan submission. General comment No. 20 (1992) on the prohibition of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, para. 6. General comment No. 36, para. 40. Ibid. A/HRC/43/61, para. 17. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24510&LangID=E. A/HRC/40/52/Add.2, para. 54. A/HRC/42/10, para. 75. CCPR/C/SDN/CO/5, para. 30. CCPR/C/MRT/CO/2, paras. 24–25. See https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=24522. 13