Prison bans pastor from visiting Troy Davis before execution

Rev Warnock

Troy Davis has been executed in Georgia. He was convicted of murder 22 years ago but always maintained his innocence. He was 42.

The condemned man's pastor, Rev Raphael Warnock, was not allowed to visit him during his final hours. No explanation was given. Rev Warnock, who is Senior Pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist Church said: "We wanted to do a pastoral visit, to offer comfort and last rights if you will, to pray. It's another insult to this injustice."

Addressing some of his last words to the family of his alleged victim, off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail, Davis insisted that the 1989 killing was not his fault. He said: "I was not responsible for what happened that night. I did not have a gun. I was not the one who took the life of your father, son, brother."

He then turned to prison officials. "For those about to take my life, may God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls."

Troy was then given a lethal injection. Fifteen minutes later, at 11.08pm [4.08am GMT], he was pronounced dead.

The case has sparked international outrage and the condemnation of hundreds of organisations including the Catholic Church, the European Union, Amnesty International, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. A million people signed a petition calling for Davis to be spared.

Thousands of church groups and human rights activists held protests in Atlanta. A prayer vigil was held for days outside Georgia State Diagnostic Prison, near the town of Jackson, where the execution chamber is located. A crowd of 700 supporters heard the news of his death in near silence, praying and holding hands.

A final message to supporters of Davis came from Edward Dubose, a member of the Georgia NAACP who spoke to the condemned man during the afternoon. "Troy wanted me to let you know - keep the faith. The fight is bigger than him... The death penalty in this country needs to end. They call it execution; we call it murder."

The US currently executes more people than any country in the World except China, Iran, North Korea and Yemen. And although just over 60 percent of the public still support capital punishment, that number appears to have been slowly falling since the 1990s.

The EU today called for an international moratorium on the death penalty.

See also: www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=18930