About Death Penalty Defence – Asia

Death Penalty Defence - Asia is a collaboration between a network of civil society organisations from across Asia and HURIDOCS. Partner organisations collaborating on the project are The Square Circle Clinic (TSCC) in India, Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) in Indonesia, Malaysian Centre for Constitutionalism and Human Rights (MCCHR), Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP), a legal NGO in China and The Rights Practice (TRP) in London.

Aims

We have designed and developed this free and searchable database primarily to assist lawyers, especially junior lawyers, to improve the quality of defence representation for individuals facing the death penalty in Asia. We also hope that civil society and anyone conducting research on the death penalty in the region will find it useful.

Inadequate representation of those facing the death penalty is a clear violation of the right to a fair trial, under international human rights law, and carries the risk of an irreversible miscarriage of justice. A regional approach aims to build consensus on what constitutes effective defence and to strengthen the sharing of information and experience in Asia. Despite working under different political and legal systems, lawyers across the region face many similar challenges and opportunities to provide an effective defence for their clients.

Data – Case briefs and Resources

This database contains detailed death penalty case briefs from each of the jurisdictions – China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Taiwan. These case briefs aim to help time-poor lawyers in Asia to gain an understanding of the issues affecting the right to effective defence across the region and strategies to improve their work. Rather than prioritising quantitative data, this database aims to provide detailed insights into representative, significant or landmark death penalty cases from across the region as well as to highlight lawyers' strategies and arguments. We also provide useful resources including national research reports on effective defence in death penalty cases, following a standardised methodology, produced by each partner organisation. Other resources include country-specific UN submissions, briefing papers, reports and events related to effective defence and fair trial rights in capital cases.

The database is currently provided in both English-language as well as Chinese-language so that lawyers in the People's Republic of China and Taiwan can access the data more easily. This is an ongoing project and we hope to be able to provide other Asian languages in the future.

KL Guidelines

This network of civil society organisations, along with lawyers from the Centre for Prisoners' Rights (CPR) in Japan and Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) in Singapore have, at the same time, been collaborating to develop Regional Guidelines for Lawyers Representing Individuals Facing the Death Penalty and Execution in Asia (KL Guidelines). The KL Guidelines represent a regionally driven initiative aimed at strengthening legal representation in capital cases and reinforcing broader fair trial protections in Asia. These guidelines serve as both a practical tool for defence lawyers and a strategic advocacy document, reinforcing the role of legal practitioners in upholding due process, ensuring professional ethics, and advancing fair trial rights.

We hope the case briefs and resources in this database will inspire lawyers across the region with new strategies or advocacy ideas which they can use in conjunction with the KL Guidelines to improve the quality of defence representation.

Please do contact us if you have any questions or comments about the project.