The Death Penalty

It is the longstanding policy of the UK to oppose the death penalty and we will
use all appropriate influence to prevent the execution of any British national.
We work in partnership with the NGO Reprieve on cases and in close
collaboration with the detainee’s lawyers. Interventions include submitting
amicus curiae briefs to foreign courts and high-level political lobbying.

In 2010 we intervened on a number of occasions to seek to prevent the

execution of British nationals in the US, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. In several cases we assess that our
interventions helped result either in the commutation of the death penalty or in
a delay in moving towards an execution date, providing further opportunity for
us to make additional representations.