[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 24



AUSTRALIA:

'Justice Must Not Kill'


The death penalty is nothing more than "institutionalised sadism" and must
be "opposed under all circumstances" a Brisbane Forum on the abolition of
capital punishment heard last week.

Speaking as a guest of forum organisers, Australians Against Capital
Punishment (AACP), former Federal ALP Minister, Barry Jones, said
abolishing capital punishment was a matter of principal and there must be
no exceptions.

"No one should have the power to extinguish a life," he said.

The AACP lobby group has been formed in part by Lee and Christine Rush,
whose son Scott was one of the Bali Nine caught smuggling drugs in
Indonesia in 2005.

Mr and Mrs Rush have been collecting signatures for a petition to convince
the Australian Government to lobby Indonesia for clemency for Scott and
the 5 other young Australians who received the death penalty as a result
of their drug smuggling activities .

"Our son has committed a crime and we do not condone what he and others
have done," Mr Rush told the forum, "illicit drugs are a cancer in our
society"

However, capital punishment is not the answer, he said "We need a new
strategy, the use of illegal drugs is a social problem."

Dr Jones, who has been a passionate campaigner for the abolition of the
death penalty for over 60 years, said capital punishment along with
torture and wrongful imprisonment constituted "the Black Flower of
Civilisation" and was a metaphor for State control.

America, which retains the death penalty mostly in its Southern States,
sets a particularly bad example.

"The USA is the only practising democracy that still executes its
citizens," he told the forum.

Dr Jones said Australia, which is opposed to the death penalty, should
show leadership against capital punishment but was instead sending mixed
signals on the issue.

"We say we're against the death penalty domestically and against it for
our citizens in other countries, but in cases where there have been
Australian victims we are not opposed," he said.

"My objection to the death penalty is based on principles," he said,
"capital punishment has to be opposed under all circumstances".

Tim Goodman, Amnesty International's Anti-Death Penalty Coordinator, said
that in 2005, 94 % of all known executions took place in China, Iran,
Saudi Arabia and the USA.

According to Mr Goodwin's blog on capital punishment, Asia Death Penalty,
Iran executed 94 people in 2005, Saudia Arabia at least 86 and the USA 60.
China however executes more than all the other countries put together with
Amnesty International citing public records which put the number at 1770
but estimating around 8000 being a more accurate figure.

Mr Goodwin told the forum that capital punishment was a "human rights
issue" and a cruel and inhuman way of treating people.

"It can't be done in an humane way," he said.

While defenders of the death penalty say it is necessary to deter people
from committing crimes, Mr Goodwin said there is no scientific evidence to
support their claims.

"It is an illusion," he said "the death penalty does not stop crime."

Other speakers at the forum, which was titled Justice Must Not Kill, were
constitutional lawyer, Patrick Keyser, and Reverend David Pitman,
Moderator or the Uniting Church Queensland.

Mr Keyser raised concerns that the death penalty, in the present political
climate, could be introduced in Australia, despite the country being a
signatory to international human rights covenants.

"The Commonwealth has the power to enter into treaties," he said, "but no
obligation to comply unless it is in legislation."

Reverend Pitman gave a Christian perspective saying it saddened him to
concede that members of the Christian faith were not united in opposing
the death penalty.

There is evidence that the death penalty was used in Hebrew society he
said citing the often quoted "eye for eye and a tooth for a tooth" from
the Book of Exodus.

However Reverend Pitman said Jesus had specifically rejected that belief,
urging instead forgiveness

"I believe in the unique worth and dignity of the individual," he told the
forum, "Life is sacred. No one has the right to take the life of another".

(source: The Epoch Times)