The inmates sentenced to die on death row since 2017, for a double murder and rape committed years earlier.

自 2017 年以來，因多年前犯下的雙重謀殺和強姦罪被判處死刑的囚犯。

It's the first time Taiwan has carried out an execution in almost five years, and is a decision that's attracted widespread international condemnation.

這是臺灣近五年來首次執行死刑，這一決定引起了國際社會的廣泛譴責。

In a harshly worded statement, Amnesty International called the execution shocking and cruel, and a huge setback for human rights in Taiwan, saying it violates the constitution and ignores an appeal to stop an execution that was still pending.

在一份措辭嚴厲的聲明中，國際特赦組織稱這一處決令人震驚且殘忍，是臺灣人權的巨大倒退，稱其違反了憲法，並無視要求停止執行死刑的上訴。

Even the European Union chimed in, urging Taiwan to immediately apply a de facto moratorium on capital punishment.

就連歐盟也加入進來，敦促臺灣立即實施事實上的暫停死刑。

But lawmakers from across the political spectrum are defending Taiwan's right to exercise the death penalty.

但來自不同政治派別的立法者都在捍衛臺灣行使死刑的權利。

The justice ministry saying the sentencing followed proper procedure, a claim backed by President Lai Ching-de himself.

司法部稱判決遵循了適當的程序，賴清德總統本人也支持這一說法。

According to the ruling of the Constitutional Court, the death penalty is constitutional.

根據司法院憲法法庭的判決，死刑適合憲的，並沒有違憲。

Therefore, I really hope that the public will support the justice ministry as it administers [the execution] according to the law. I would like to express my condolences to the families of the victims.

因為，我非常希望社會大眾能夠支持法務部依法行政，同時我也要向受害的家屬表達慰問之意。

Despite its support among politicians in Taiwan, some opposition lawmakers have taken the execution as an opportunity to get political,

儘管死刑得到了臺灣政界人士的支持，但一些反對黨的立法者卻把這次處決當作一次政治機會，

with a KMT legislator accusing the ruling party of using capital punishment, which enjoys widespread support among the Taiwanese public too, as a political distraction.

一位國民黨立法者指責執政黨利用死刑來分散政治注意力，而死刑在臺灣民眾中也得到了廣泛支持。

Capital punishment has long been a contentious issue here in Taiwan.

在臺灣，死刑一直是個有爭議的問題。

It was only last September that the country's three dozen or so death row inmates brought the subject to the constitutional court, who ruled it only partially constitutional, saying that it should only be used in the most serious of cases.

直到去年 9 月，該國三十多名死囚才將這一問題提交給憲法法院，但憲法法院僅裁定其部分符合憲法，稱其僅適用於最嚴重的案件。

And Taiwan has used the death penalty very sparingly in recent years, with only two executions during Tsai Ing-wen's eight-year presidency.

近年來，臺灣很少使用死刑，在蔡英文八年總統任期內僅執行過兩次死刑。

But with so much public support and this most recent execution, all coming just days after another inmate's death sentence was upheld, it seems capital punishment is still very much an option for Taiwan's justice ministry,

但有瞭如此多的公眾支持和最近的這次處決，所有這些都是在另一名囚犯的死刑被維持幾天后發生的，死刑似乎仍然是台灣司法部的一個選擇，

and all despite repeated calls from rights groups to abolish the practice altogether.

儘管人權組織一再呼籲完全廢除這種做法。

Klein Wang, Joseph Wu and Rhys Ayres for Taiwan Plus.

Klein Wang、Joseph Wu 和 Rhys Ayres 為 Taiwan Plus 報導。