We the undersigned urge you to re-think your pop-up restaurant concept. By signing this we are not pre-judging your own personal view on the death penalty nor the motivations behind your concept. 

The death penalty is the ultimate violation of human rights - it is premeditated murder at the hands of international governments. It is a punishment routinely carried out in a number of ways - beheading, firing squad, hanging, lethal injection, stoning. It is barbaric however it is carried out, and none of these methods can be deemed more or less brutal than the next. 

The 'last meal' is usually something which is given to an inmate the evening before he or she is put to death. They will have been held in a small cell (a 'death watch' cell) sometimes for 48 hours before their scheduled execution date.  Here they will sometimes be so close to the execution chamber that they can see it They will already have been offered a sedative, which is intended to lessen the anxiety they will be examined by a doctor, to check they are fit enough to be killed, and then they may have their shoes taken, perhaps given flip flops (no laces, you see), and their belt may be taken, because the state will not want them to be able to harm themselves.

They will then wait. Alone. They are alone while their lawyers file last ditch appeals, right up to the Supreme Court to try and save their life. Any sound of the phone on the wall ringing will bring hope; perhaps their lawyer has secured a stay? But more often than not the phone won't ring, legal avenues are exhausted, and the condemned man or woman (who has eaten their last meal) is killed. 

In Georgia in 2010 an inmate called Brandon Rhode tried to kill himself in the hours before his execution. Brandon would likely have already had his last meal, before he slit his arms and throat with a razor blade. In hospital, he was stabilised (ironic, right, given the state actually wanted to kill him) before being placed in a restraining chair to prevent him doing any more harm to himself, before being executed by the state a week later. 

Rhodes lawyer said following his execution: “He has been subjected to the surreal and incomprehensible: the threat of execution has pushed Mr. Rhodes limited coping skills to the breaking point" which drove Rhodes to slash himself with blades he hid from guards while under a blanket. 

Do you think it is appropriate therefore to mimic the very environment which pushed Mr Rhodes to this 'breaking point'? 

You may also be aware of the case of Troy Davis, executed by the state of Georgia in 2011. Davis was the subject of a worldwide campaign to save his life. He was very probably innocent of the crime for which he was convicted, sentenced, and ultimately killed. For some people who are signing this petition, Troy Davis was a friend, some had worked for him for a number of years, some sat on death row with him, and some campaigned until the bitter end to save his life. 

Do you think it’s appropriate to mimic the environment in which Mr Davis was killed? (For your information, Mr Davis refused his last meal, he was fasting). Mr Davis also spent a number of hours between his scheduled execution (7pm) and his time of death (11:08pm), waiting, in a death watch cell, for his lawyers to file appeal after appeal to save his life. Do you want to re-create an environment where a potentially innocent man refused his last meal, while being put on hold by the justice system, before being killed? 

You might also be aware of the case of Romell Broom, who was due to be executed in 2009. Broom was strapped to the gurney and the execution about to proceed, but the execution team were unable to find a suitable vein in which to insert the line and start the flow of drugs that would kill him. They tried in both his arms and legs, and after more than two hours the execution was terminated. During the efforts, Mr Broom winced and grimaced with pain. After the first hours lack of success, on several occasions, Mr Broom tried to help the executioners find a good vein. Can you imagine this - having to attempt to assist with your own execution? Witnesses report that at one point he covered his face with both hands and appeared to be sobbing, his stomach heaving. The execution was stopped after more than two hours 

Mr Broom would have been given his last meal prior to suffering this horrendous ordeal. Do you think it appropriate to mimic the last food he ate? 

Finally I'd like to draw your attention to the recent case of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma.   Lockett was executed in April of this year, despite prolonged litigation and numerous warnings about the danger of using an experimental drug protocol (including a paralytic).  Plans for the execution and the drugs used were cloaked in secrecy. 

An hour after the execution began; the executioner was still having problems finding a suitable vein. When a vein was found, in the groin area, the execution proceeded. Ten minutes after the first drug (sedative) was administered, Lockett was pronounced unconscious and therefore ready to receive the remaining two components of the lethal cocktail (the drugs that would actually kill him). These drugs were known to cause excruciating pain if the recipient was conscious. Mr Lockett was not unconscious. Three minutes later Mr Lockett began 'breathing heavily, writhing on the gurney, clenching his teeth and straining to lift his head off the pillow'.  Officials then lowered the blinds to prevent witnesses seeing what was happening, and later ordered them to leave the room. 

Twenty minutes after the first drugs were administered, the execution was halted. 43 minutes after the execution had first began, Lockett died of a heart attack, while still in the execution chamber. 

Do you want to mimic the hours before Lockett’s death? 

These are not isolated cases. This is the reality of a brutal, racist, arbitrary, error prone system. This is the reality of the abhorrent practice of capital punishment. 

We urge you to reconsider the theme of your restaurant. 

Pop up restaurants are great - those which play on the barbaric nature of the death penalty are not. Please rethink.