Papua New Guinea Witchcraft Killings: Government Considers Firing Squad Executions
Following a number of high-profile killings related to sorcery, Papua New Guinea's government is pushing for the South Pacific nation's first execution and says firing squads would be a humane and inexpensive method. Papua New Guinea's laws allow for the death penalty and about 10 condemned inmates are currently in prison there, but the country was a colony of its near neighbor Australia when the last prisoner was executed – by hanging – in 1954. Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said on Wednesday that legislation will be introduced when Parliament resumes in two weeks that would allow the country to implement the death penalty. "Among the methods discussed include death by firing squad, which was considered more humane and inexpensive than other methods," O'Neill said in a statement following a Cabinet meeting Wednesday. He said an "execution center" would be attached to a new prison to be built in a remote location. The prime minister's office d