http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=NzQzNjg0MDIz
Death penalty prevents people from taking matters into their own hands Published Date: November 18, 2009 By Abdullah Al-Qattan, Staff Writer KUWAIT: A number of speakers discussed the death penalty and related issues at a seminar entitled, 'The Death Penalty: Is it a Given Right for Society or a Rightful Punishment?,' held at Kuwait University's Faculty of Sharia yesterday. KU Sharia faculty members took part in the seminar, clarifying the Islamic viewpoint on the issue and discussing a number of points concerning the death penalty in Kuwait along with other speakers, such as whether or not capital punishment should be applied, along with the effects that it has on the Kuwaiti way of life and the possible influence of Western nations which have outlawed this form of punishment. One of the guest speakers, Dr Adel Al-Damkhi, the chairman of the Kuwait Human Rights Society (KHRS), asserted that Islamic jurisprudence was clear on the issue of the death penalty and that Islamic legislation on the matter should be followed since it is an integral part of Kuwaiti culture. The killer should be killed" is a clear instruction dictated by Islam on this issue, said Dr Al-Damkhi in his address, stressing that it should not be forgotten, however, that Islam also commends the principle of forgiveness; this should be applied if those affected by the crime, particularly the victim's family members, find forgiveness in their hearts, in which case the killer should receive a life sentence following the judge's ruling, he asserted. These guidelines are provided in order to prevent people from taking matters into their own hands, which starts an unstoppable chain of revenge that can tear a country apart, Dr Al-Damkhi said. Therefore, he went on, a third, neutral party should be in charge of administering an impartial trial in such situations in order to achieve justice rather than revenge. Dr Al-Damkhi stressed that we should be careful not to mistake sparing a killer's life for an act of mercy since we are responsible for the life of the victim. Another speaker, Abdulsalam Al-Enezi, a member of KU's International Law faculty, said that the Western viewpoint on this issue can be seen as defensible since in the case of an incorrect verdict or false identification of the murderer, the wrongly executed person's family cannot be compensated, unlike the family of the victim. Al-Enezi said, however, that in Western nations a woman who has an abortion is not considered a criminal, although in his view her act involves taking the life of an innocent child. He claimed that women travel to the Netherlands from other countries around the world to have abortions performed at any stage of pregnancy at its hospitals, asking how the rest of the world should be expected to react to this. Should people consider this the right of the woman in question over her own body or a crime against an innocent, he asked. He also emphasized that Kuwaiti culture differs from that of other nations, meaning that Kuwait should have its own laws allowing it to handle issues in its own way, regardless of how they are dealt with elsewhere. Al-Enezi insisted that Kuwaiti society cannot let a murderer walk away unpunished since that will start a cycle of revenge, as Al-Damkhi had pointed out earlier. On the other hand, however, Kuwait does have its own laws which are very specific according to the details of the case, he pointed out, citing the example of any case in which a pregnant woman is found guilty of murder, in which case she cannot receive the death penalty since that is considered to be unjustly penalizing her unborn child, but will instead receive a life sentence in order to ensure that justice is done. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
