asphyxiation was disproportionate and violated the prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment in Article 7 of the ICCPR.299 The position under the ECHR The right to life guaranteed by Article 2(1) ECHR envisages circumstances whereby the use of the death penalty may be lawful. However, Protocol 6 to the ECHR abolishes the death penalty except in respect of acts committed in time of war. Protocol 13 goes further and abolishes the death penalty under all circumstances. It is now unlawful to deport or extradite somebody from a Council of Europe country to a country where the individual is likely to be executed. Following the Grand Chamber judgment in Öcalan v. Turkey, the Court has limited the availability of the death penalty, holding that capital punishment in peacetime has come to be regarded as an unacceptable form of punishment that is no longer permissible under Article 2 of the Convention.300 The Council of Europe Guidelines emphasize that under no circumstances may a person convicted of terrorist activities be sentenced to death; in the event of such a sentence being imposed, it may not be carried out.301 Removal, deportation and extradition The right to life may be engaged where an individual could be deported or extradited to somewhere where, because of the lack of adequate medical care, their death may be particularly cruel and hastened, although this is more likely to engage protection from inhuman and degrading treatment.302 This issue is dealt with in full in the next section. According to the European Court of Human Rights, states must require firm assurances from retentionist countries that persons to be extradited or expelled will not be sentenced to death.303 Guideline XIII of the Council of Europe Guidelines on Human Rights and the Fight against Terrorism, on Extradition, states that: […] 2. The extradition of a person to a country where he/she risks being sentenced to the death penalty may not be granted. A requested State may however grant an extradition if it has obtained adequate guarantees that: i) the person whose extradition has been requested will not be sentenced to death; or ii) in the event of such a sentence being imposed, it will not be carried out. A similar provision has been included in the Amending Protocol to the 1977 European Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism of the Council of Europe.304 299 HRC, Chitat Ng v. Canada, Communication no. 469/1991, doc. CCPR/C/49/D/469/1991, 7 January 1994, paras. 16.116.5. 300 ECtHR, Öcalan v. Turkey, Application no. 46221/99, 12 May 2005, para. 163. 301 Op. cit., note 11, CoE, Guidelines on Human Rights and the Fight against Terrorism, Guideline X(2). 302 ECtHR, D. v. UK, Case no. 146/1996/767/964, 21 April 1997, para. 59. 303 “[O]bjectively it cannot be said that the undertaking to inform the judge at the sentencing stage of the wishes of the United Kingdom eliminates the risk of the death penalty being imposed”, ECtHR, Soering v. UK, Application no. 14038/88, 7 July 1989, para. 98. 304 The Treaty (CETS 190) was opened for signatures in Strasbourg on 15 May 2003. Countering Terrorism, Protecting Human Rights 113