July 28, 2024
Sth African euthanasia activist arrested again in UK
South African euthanasia activist Dr Sean Davison has been arrested for the third time on charges of assisted suicide, this time in the UK. Davison was arrested on 15 July after accompanying a 79-year-old English woman to the Pegasos clinic in Switzerland, where she was assisted in suicide at her request on 29 June.
Professor Willem Landman confirmed the arrest to City Press’s sister publication Rapport. Landman and Davison co-founded DignitySA in 2010. Davison serves as an ethics expert on its executive committee.
Landman said:
Now, the irony is that Sean is being charged with a crime that will soon no longer be a crime in parts of the very UK.
On Friday, a private member’s bill to legalise assisted suicide in England and Wales was introduced in the British Parliament’s House of Lords.
Moreover, three British jurisdictions are on the verge of legalising assisted suicide. Jersey is the first one. The Isle of Man and Scotland are possibly soon to follow.
Landman believes Davison’s case is being used to clarify a grey area in British legislation.
Davison was previously arrested in 2010 in New Zealand and in South Africa in 2019 for assisted suicides.
Landman said:
Davison is by now very tough.
However, he is outraged about how it happened this time. Ten officers searched his house in Bournemouth in the UK for about eight hours.
He said:
They turned everything upside down and tore it [the place] apart, and his children were terrified. Sean was very upset about what it did to his family.
The police seized computers and cell phones. After 30 hours in custody, he was released on bail under strict conditions, including that he may not leave the UK.
Davison is prohibited under his bail conditions from speaking with the media, DignitySA or any of the other 80 organisations worldwide that advocate euthanasia.
However, he has sought legal advice and accordingly allowed the organisation to now release this news and information, said Landman.
Both Davison and Landman are actively involved in the organisation’s court application to decriminalise assisted suicide in South Africa.
For Davison, it was a priority to warn others who had arranged to travel to Switzerland for assisted suicide as soon as possible after his arrest not to go there with their families on the same flights from the UK, as they could also be arrested.
Landman said:
He was concerned that they too are in danger.
Meanwhile, the British police have indicated they are also investigating “additional charges” against Davison.
DignitySA is concerned that he will be charged due to the widely publicised death of South African Carol de Swardt.
On 31 January this year, Davison accompanied De Swardt to the Pegasos clinic for her voluntary assisted suicide, said Landman. Davison recently resigned from Exit International – an organisation that advocates people’s right to euthanasia – and was soon to take up his new position as head of Pegasos, said Landman.
However, his bail conditions prevent him from travelling to Switzerland and starting work there.
He added:
Davison thus hopes that his bail conditions will be amended so that he can travel out of the UK because, if not, he is prevented from earning an income and helping support his family.
In 2010, Davison was arrested in his native New Zealand for injecting his mother, Patricia Ferguson (85), with a lethal dose of morphine in 2006.
Ferguson was terminally ill with cancer. For assisting her to die, he was sentenced to five months of house arrest.
Assisted suicide has since been legalised in New Zealand. In 2019, Davison was sentenced in South Africa to three years of house arrest under a plea agreement with the state in which he acknowledged his role in the assisted deaths of three men.
However, he maintains he is not guilty of murder.
Assisted suicide is already legal in Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Australia, Colombia, Ecuador and Cuba, as well as in ten states in the US, but nowhere in Africa or Asia. It is also now being considered in Italy.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced in March this year that assisted suicide would be legalised during his term.
In February, a comprehensive report on assisted suicide worldwide was tabled in the UK House of Commons.
Landman said:
While it does not take sides, it lays the foundation for an emerging Commons debate.
In his opinion, the British prosecution authority is using Davison’s case to seek clarity from the judiciary on a grey area in UK law.
“While many people have helped others travel to Switzerland to either the Pegasos or Dignitas clinic, the police may think that the larger number of people Sean has helped will lead to a successful prosecution, which in turn will bring clarity to this legislation.”
The commercial aspect of Davison’s actions may also contribute to this, said Landman.
“Someone who wants to get assisted suicide in Switzerland has to pay for it. It makes sense, as it happens within healthcare facilities that need to be operated, and it costs money. It can’t be free.
“So even though Sean does it out of compassion, which is typical of him, he gets paid because he has to keep a family of five alive. But he has nothing directly to do with assisted suicide.
“All he does is travel with those going to Dignitas and Pegasos; accompany them.
“He is not involved in the process and execution of the assisted suicide at all. He will only sign a statement after their death to identify the relevant person and confirm their death.”
