The phrase "ask clemency" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when requesting mercy or leniency, often in a legal or formal context.
Example: "The defendant's lawyer decided to ask clemency from the judge, hoping for a reduced sentence."
Alternatives: "request mercy" or "seek leniency."
"If the Government of Canada does not ask for clemency for every Canadian facing the death penalty, how can we be credible when we ask for clemency in selective cases or countries?" Dion, who also called the old policy an "incoherent double standard," was quoted as saying.
I am writing to ask for clemency for the prisoners Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan.
Mr. Cochran said he was considering whether to ask for clemency or to seek to overturn the conviction.
The governor was said to have wished to commute Parsons's sentence, too, but Parsons had refused to ask for clemency.
Soon after he seized power, General Musharraf went to Saudi Arabia, Islam's holiest land, to pay obeisance to King Fahd, only to be stunned by an intercession by Prince Abdullah to ask for clemency for Mr Sharif.
This afternoon, the 10 defendants will get their only chance to say their piece, to beg the court's forgiveness and to ask for clemency -- not that it's likely to be forthcoming.
The lawyer for John Allen Muhammad, who was convicted in the 2002 sniper shootings in the Washington area, says he plans to ask for clemency for his client, who is scheduled for execution next month.
It also argued that the American practice of allowing defendants to ask for clemency provided an adequate remedy because it often resulted in pardons or in the commutation of death sentences.
Their book documents the many ways that people are sentenced to death in violation of international law — for drug-trafficking, for example, rather than for "the most serious crimes," in unfair proceedings and with no opportunity to ask for clemency, and while imprisoned in terrible conditions.
