Musicians support "Too Much Doubt" campaign

Franz Ferdinand, The Drums, Mogwai, The Orb, Andrew Weatherall, Jim Sclavunos - from Grinderman and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, and Keane’s Richard Hughes, as well as comedians Matt Kirshen and Matt Berry, are supporting Amnesty International’s “Too Much Doubt” campaign to avert the execution next week of a man in the USA.

Troy Davis, 42, is facing execution on Wednesday 21 September in the state of Georgia despite longstanding doubts about the safety of his conviction. He has been on death row since being convicted in 1991 of the killing of a policeman Mark Allen MacPhail, who was shot in Savannah, Georgia in 1989.

Davis has always protested his innocence and there is no physical evidence linking him to the crime. Since his trial seven out of nine prosecution witnesses have recanted or changed their initial testimonies in sworn affidavits. In 2007 Amnesty published a report detailing a pattern of police coercion of witnesses ahead of Davis’ trial, and the organisation has gathered over 650,000 signatures to a petition requesting that the Georgia authorities commute Davis’ sentence.

The musicians supporting Troy Davis have added “Too Much Doubt” information to their Facebook pages (with a combined friendship reach of 2.5 million) and have been tweeting their followers with various “doubts” over the safety of Davis’ conviction (each hashtagged #TooMuchDoubt and #TroyDavis: see www.amnesty.org.uk/doubt).

They are urging their fans to support the campaign, which is calling on the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole to commute Davis’ execution when it meets on 19 September to decide Davis’ fate. This board alone has the power to commute his sentence.

Richard Hughes, the drummer from indie-rock band Keane himself visited Troy Davis on death row in 2009. He said:

“More than 650,000 people have already expressed their grave concerns about this case and we’re now down to just a few days to save Troy’s life. I promised him when I met him on death row that I wouldn’t stop fighting to prevent his execution and that’s what I’m going to do.”

Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said:

“Amnesty is against the death penalty in all cases but even people who advocate capital punishment must surely worry about pressing ahead with an execution in a case as riven with doubt as this one.

“The always flimsy case against Troy Davis has fallen apart since his trial. No jury would now convict him - there is simply too much doubt. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles should avert the tragedy of sending this man to his death.”