Despite the reprieve granted to Troy Davis earlier today, just over four hours after our last report [1], Davis was executed.
Around the world, and particularly in the United States, Twitter is in a state of morning. The hashtag #RIPTroyDavis is currently trending, and individuals are expressing their feelings about Davis's case, as well as about the state of capital punishment in the United States.
From Philadelphia, @ShamaraOnAir reports [2]:
Watching CNN 11:08 was time of death #RIPTROYDAVIS
From Iowa, @Jasminenkelly tweets [3]:
[4]Troy Davis campaign image, by Tricia Wang uploaded by Flickr user dabnotu (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
Racism and injustice still exists just on a different scale… we dnt have KKK's in sheets anymore they are our law makers. #RIPTROYDAVIS
Journalist Dan Gillmor rails against the death penalty, saying [5]:
Bad enough that death penalty exists. But tonight, our system of “justice” killed another person whose guilt was hugely in doubt. Travesty.
From Barbados, @bajanswaggboy remarks [6]:
#RIPTroyDavis. No murder weapon, no DNA, 7 of 9 witnesses recant their testimonies. Seriously? How do you execute someone without evidence?
And from the UK, @tweety_coco says [7]:
Still in shock. Just cannot believe this can happen in 2011. #riptroydavis
Linda Sarsour (@lsarsour), a Palestinian-American activist, states [8]:
#TroyDavis will be the fuel I need to continue my quest for social justice. He will never be forgotten. #RIPTroyDavis
While the case of Troy Davis has certainly drawn interest from the public, many are cynical that the case is a one-off, and that US citizens will not continue to fight against the death penalty. Or as Palestinian @Falasteeni put it [9] shortly before the execution took place:
What saddens me most abt expected murder of #TroyDavis is tht nothing will happen, no movement will grow to make sure it never happens again