The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2021 of protection so as to ensure their effective enjoyment of the right to life on equal basis with others.”217 The execution of Lisa Montgomery constituted the most controversial case in relation to individuals executed despite mental or emotional impairment due to the circumstances of the case. She was reportedly profoundly mentally ill, and developed PTSD and brain damage after a lifetime of sexual violence and torture inflicted on her. Conditions on death row allegedly retraumatized her, being constantly watched and surrounded by male guards. She was the only woman on federal death row and the first female inmate to be executed by the federal government in 67 years.218 Several UN experts called for clemency for Lisa Montgomery after the federal government rescheduled her execution, highlighting that she had received inadequate legal assistance during her trial, and because her previous trauma and mental health were not taken into consideration.219 The sickness of her lawyers with COVID-19 after travelling to visit her meant that she was deprived of legal representation in filing a clemency petition within the required time limit. The UN experts remarked that the death penalty is always arbitrary and unlawful, “when the court ignores or discounts essential facts that may have significantly influenced a capital defendant’s motivations, situation and conduct. Such facts include exposure to domestic violence and other abuse.” They concluded that, “a death sentence carried out in contravention of a Government’s international obligations amounts to an arbitrary execution.” 220 A global campaign, including letters signed by UN experts, advocates, groups and prosecutors, more than 800 people and organizations working on combating violence against women, over 100 people and organizations combating human trafficking, and 40 advocates working on the protection of abused children had tried to 217 See 2020 Background Paper, p. 28, quoting: Human Rights Committee, General comment No. 36 (2018) on article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, on the right to life, CCPR/C/GC/36, para. 24. Moreover, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment has deemed the execution of persons with mental disabilities as particularly cruel, inhuman and degrading, and therefore in violation of Article 7 of the ICCPR and Articles 1 and 16 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. 218 Equal Justice Initiative, Federal Government Plans Three More Executions, Including Only Woman on Federal Death Row, 10 November 2020. 219 Lisa Montgomery’s case represents an example of the inherent arbitrariness of the death penalty. For more information on the death penalty and its arbitrariness, see ODIHR, The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2020, op. cit., note 5, pp. 7–30. 220 OHCHR, UN experts call for clemency for Lisa Montgomery after US Government reschedules execution, 3 December 2020. 52