Branson says no to death penalty, urges new admin to think twice

Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson, right, with his daughter, Holly Branson, tour the grounds of the Los Angeles Amity Foundation with its vice president, Mark Faucette, middle, in Los Angeles on Nov. 12, 2012. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

British billionaire and philanthropist Richard Branson is a known rebel in his field, having grown his Virgin Group business empire in oftentimes unconventional ways.

But even Branson, who was back in Manila Wednesday after two decades to speak with the country’s entrepreneurs and business elite, draws the line when human rights are involved, especially when it comes to the death penalty.

“The death penalty is not a deterrent,” Branson told the crowd of about 800 who attended the ABS-CBN News Channel’s first “Asian Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum” held at the Sofitel Manila.

Most of the crowd paid anywhere between P20,000 to P35,000 each to hear the flamboyant visionary share his thoughts on business and success. His latest project involves making space travel affordable to all.

Branson said implementing the death penalty in jurisdictions where convictions are less than certain cannot be tolerated. He said even the United States, which has a “relatively good judicial system”, got it wrong years ago when DNA-based evidence was not yet allowed.

“In countries where you can’t 100 percent trust the courts, the last thing you should have is the death penalty, and it’s not a deterrent anyway,” Branson said.

“I don’t think society can risk executing innocent people and I hope this new government will think twice about that,” he added, referring to the incoming administration of presumptive president elect Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte, who won by a landslide in the May 9, 2016 polls on a platform coming out tough against crime and corruption, said he would restore the death penalty for heinous crimes.

READ: Duterte to use death penalty, militias in war vs drugs, major crimes / De Lima vows to fight return of death penalty

These crimes include rape as well as kidnapping resulting in the death of the victim, reports showed. He further threatened that those convicted can be executed by hanging. Duterte’s pronouncements drew opposition from the Catholic Church, the Commission on Human Rights and even some lawmakers.

Instead of executing criminals, Branson said they should be locked up “for life without any chance of coming out on the street again.”

The topic on the death penalty came up during the business forum as Branson noted the global war on drugs has “been a complete failure”.

He said jurisdictions would have less of a chance resolving the drug problem if approached in a “repressive” way rather than an approach seeking to reform addicts.

Branson’s Virgin Group had come out strong against the death penalty in the past. It condemned Indonesia’s execution of eight individuals of drug-related crimes last year. Only Filipino Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso was granted a last-minute reprieve.

READ: Mary Jane Veloso gets new ‘reprieve’ from execution

Despite calls against it, executions have been on the rise globally, Amnesty International said in its latest report.

In 2015, the non-government human-rights organization said those executed— mainly by hanging, shooting, lethal injection and beheading—hit 1,634 people, the highest it recorded since 1989. TVJ