AWARD PRESENTATION FOR ‘THE ABOLITIONIST OF THE YEAR 2010’ AND PRESENTATION OF HANDS OFF CAIN’S 2010 REPORT ‘THE DEATH PENALTY WORLDWIDE’

July 29, 2010: Saturday, July 31, 2010 – 11:00 A.M., Via di Torre Argentina 76, Rome.
With the participation of: JEAN PING, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, “Abolitionist of the Year 2010”; EMMA BONINO, Vice President of the Italian Senate; GIANNI LETTA, Undersecretary of State to the Italian Council of Ministers; VINCENZO SCOTTI, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary; MARCO PANNELLA, President of Hands Off Cain; ALDO AJELLO, Honorary President of Hands Off Cain; SERGIO D’ELIA, Secretary of Hands Off Cain; ELISABETTA ZAMPARUTTI, MP, Editor of Hands Off Cain’s 2010 Report. Members of Italian Parliament and foreign Ambassadors will also be present.
“The Abolitionist of the Year” Award, which is promoted by Hands Off Cain to recognize the person, who, above all others, has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment in the struggle for a moratorium on executions and the abolition of the death penalty, is conferred this year upon Jean Ping, Chairperson of the African Union Commission.
Hands Off Cain’s 2010 Report on the Death Penalty, edited again this year by Elisabetta Zamparutti and published by Reality Book, covers the most important facts of 2009 and the first six months of 2010. The data confirms the worldwide trend towards abolition, underway for more than a decade. On the other hand, 2009’s terrible podium of the world’s top executioners went to three authoritarian regimes: China, Iran and Iraq.
During this ceremony, Hands Off Cain will present its campaign to persuade those countries still practicing the death penalty to adopt the U.N. moratorium on executions, starting with Africa, and in view of the presentation this autumn at the United Nations in New York of a new pro-moratorium Resolution.