Press Release | Wishing Away the Misfortune: Earnest Appeal to President Lai for the Pardon of Wrongfully Imprisoned Death-Row Prisoner Chiou Ho-shun

Chiou Ho-shun's case is a prominent Taiwanese miscarriage of justice involving the death penalty, and he is the prisoner who has awaited execution for the longest time in history. The case is plagued by major flaws, including confessions extracted through torture, missing physical evidence, contradictory evidence, judges failing to recuse themselves, and the infliction of torture upon the defendants. Furthermore, the Control Yuan has repeatedly issued impeachment and investigation reports concerning the law enforcement personnel involved in this case, making it an unquestionably unfair trial. Chiou's pro bono legal team and the rescue coalition have repeatedly filed extraordinary legal remedies for him, such as retrials and extraordinary appeals.

This case has garnered intense concern from all sectors of society and the international community. In the concluding observations of the international reviews of the Covenants in 2013 and 2022, international experts consistently urged our government to commute Chiou Ho-shun's sentence or grant him a pardon. In 2020, at the invitation of the rescue team, a total of over 100,000 people from Taiwan and 39 countries and regions worldwide—spanning the legal, political, academic, arts and literature, religious, and civil society sectors—jointly petitioned former President Tsai for a pardon. However, 38 years have passed, and Chiou Ho-shun remains incarcerated in the Taipei Detention Center.

Today (April 7) marks Chiou Ho-shun's 66th birthday, yet his health continues to deteriorate, as he suffers long-term from heart disease, low blood pressure, skin conditions, and tooth loss. The pro bono legal team and rescue coalition held a press conference outside the Taipei Guest House to once again submit a petition for a presidential pardon to President William Lai on Chiou's behalf. Following the press conference, they walked to the side gate of the Presidential Office to deliver the pardon petition, hoping that President Lai will demonstrate a high degree of commitment to human rights and bring an end to Chiou Ho-shun's misfortune.

1. The Judiciary's Failure in Self-Correction: Presidential Pardon is the Only Exit to Hear the Cries of a Wrongful Conviction

Attorney Lin Chun-hung, convener of Chiou Ho-shun's pro bono legal team, stated during his remarks that Chiou's trial was undeniably an unfair one. The Control Yuan has issued four investigation reports identifying it as a wrongful conviction; the Prosecutor-General has filed an extraordinary appeal identifying it as a wrongful conviction; and international experts consider it a wrongful conviction. Yet, the judiciary remains unwilling to face the errors in this case. We hope the President is willing to face them and exercise his constitutional power to pardon Chiou Ho-shun, allowing him to spend his 66th birthday outside of prison.

Lee Ming-ju, CEO of the Judicial Reform Foundation, also lamented that the rescue effort is a race against time. Before Chiou Ho-shun's mother passed away in 2014, she continuously traveled back and forth to cry out for her son's injustice, yet Chiou was denied even the opportunity to see his mother for the last time. Today, having spent 38 years behind bars, Chiou is the longest-detained person in the world. Turning 66 today, his cardiopulmonary function and immune system have weakened, emergency hospitalizations have become a routine occurrence, and he has even begun making final arrangements. Lee Ming-ju emphasized that while presidential pardons are as rare as miracles in Taiwan, this has become the only outlet left to hear the cries of a wrongful conviction once judicial remedies are exhausted.

2. Intense Concern from Society and the International Community: Urging President William Lai to Pardon Chiou Ho-shun

Chang Chih (full remarks), Deputy Secretary-General of Amnesty International Taiwan, pointed out that the Chiou Ho-shun case has long transcended the scope of an individual case, becoming a human rights benchmark continuously monitored by the international community. The message from the international review experts of the Covenants—ranging from the recommendation for a sentence reduction in 2013 to the explicit recommendation for a pardon in 2022—has remained consistent. Furthermore, the 2019 "Simulated Asian Human Rights Court" declared that the Taiwanese government clearly violated its obligations under international conventions prohibiting torture and guaranteeing a fair trial in this case. Chang Chih urged that Taiwan stands at a moment of choice and should demonstrate a high level of courage by acknowledging its mistakes and striving to rectify them, thereby bringing an end to this historic systemic error.

Professor Hsu Wei-chun, Chairperson of the Covenants Watch, mentioned in his concluding remarks (full remarks) that Chiou Ho-shun's guilty verdict was built upon a defendant's confession extracted through torture and voiceprint analysis that defied scientific methods. Even though the police officers responsible for the torture back then have been convicted, the judicial system still harbors a deep-seated reliance on confessions obtained under torture and remains unwilling to self-correct. Professor Hsu believes that the Chiou's case is fundamentally the product of systemic state violence and constitutes a judicial injustice that must be redressed. He called upon President William Lai to shoulder the responsibilities as the representative of the state, avoid repeating the mistakes of the Chiang Kuo-ching case, pardon Chiou Ho-shun as soon as possible, and restore his rightful freedom.

The pro bono legal team and the rescue coalition formally submitted the pardon petition to the Office of the President today. We reiterate once more: as long as Chiou Ho-shun's wrongful imprisonment continues for a single day, the violation of human rights will not cease for a single day. This year marks Chiou Ho-shun's 66th birthday, yet it is fraught with misfortune—judicial misfortune, human rights misfortune, and Chiou Ho-shun's misfortune.

We earnestly implore President Lai to exercise the power vested in him by the Constitution, grant Chiou Ho-shun a full pardon absolving him of his crime and sentence, bring an end to this 38-year-long misfortune, and realize Chiou Ho-shun's long-delayed justice and freedom.

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Time

9:00 AM, April 7, 2026

Location

Outside the Taipei Guest House (No. 1, Ketagalan Blvd., near the intersection of Kungyuan Rd.)

Participating Organizations

• Pro Bono Legal Team for the Chiou Ho-shun Case & Judicial Reform Foundation
• Taiwan Association to End the Death Penalty
• Amnesty International Taiwan
• Taiwan Association for Human Rights
• Covenants Watch
• Taiwan Association for Innocence

List of Speakers

• Attorney Lin Chun-hung, Convener of the Pro Bono Legal Team for the Chiou Ho-shun Case
• Lee Ming-ju, CEO of the Judicial Reform Foundation
• Chang Chih, Deputy Secretary-General of Amnesty International Taiwan
• Professor Hsu Wei-chun, Chairperson of Covenants Watch

Media Contacts

Chang Hua-che, Director of Case Action Department, Judicial Reform Foundation
02-25231178#22
ven@jrf.org.tw

Yeh Po-chun, Legal Officer of Case Action Department, Judicial Reform Foundation
02-25231178#31
bj@jrf.org.tw