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Nun who brings comfort to condemned says unease at punishment is growing

Stephen Bates, religious affairs correspondent
Friday January 13, 2006
The Guardian

The last face on earth that condemned men see as they are strapped on to the gurney for their execution by lethal injection in the death chambers of the prisons in US southern states is often that of a diminutive, grey-haired Catholic nun. She gazes into their eyes for as long as she can, trying to give them strength and show human compassion for their last few minutes.

Sister Helen Prejean's new publication, The Death Of Innocents (published in the UK in January 2006) is the follow-up to the best-selling 1993 book Dead Man Walking, which formed the basis of the Oscar-winning film directed by Tim Robbins and starring Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon.

I had the great honour and privilege to meet some of the most courageous women I have ever met at this event.

Tamara Chikunova, head of Mothers Against The Death Penalty And Torture in Uzbekistan, has campaigned against capital punishment in the country since her 28-year-old son Dmitry was executed despite allegations that he was tortured into a false confession.

Tamara was not even told her only son was dead and she was never given his body. He is buried in a secret location.

this is from Scottish Television.

http://scotlandtoday.scottishtv.co.uk/