World Day Against the Death Penalty: Joint Statement From Arab Coalitions
The world will celebrate on the 10th of October 2008 the World Day Against the Death Penalty which was a crowning of the struggle and efforts of human rights activists and civil action, whether individually or collectively, in the quest to abrogate the death penalty from the local and international legislation and to replace it, whenever deemed necessary, with other appropriate penalties in which the crime warrants a form of penalty.
Attention was paid to the World Day Against the Death Penalty as part of an initiative that seeks to remind the international community, particularly in the Arab region, with the need to review the use of the death penalty because it constitutes the climax of infringement on human rights as it violates the right of Man to life and pronounces that a mistake, whenever made, should not be remedied by a more violent mistake. On the contrary, the State should lay down the foundations of healthy relations with its own citizens primarily based on the rejection of all forms of guided and systematic violence, all the more so because the implementation of the death penalty is applied against politicians and party leaders who differ in their views with the ruling authorities.
Civil efforts have succeeded in abrogating the death penalties in 137 countries, according to a report published by Amnesty International in 2007. This is prompting us to request the Arab governments to seek to amend the national code of criminal legislation for the purpose of abrogating this penalty. Arab governments are requested to ratify the second voluntary protocol appended to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights pertaining to the abrogation of the death penalty. They are also requested to ratify the Articles of Association of the International Criminal Court together with introducing a fair criminal policy based on guaranteeing the rights of prisoners to have a fair trial. Such a fair trial should be based on a law that is in harmony with the covenants and conventions supporting human rights.
In this context, the elite of the civil society, including jurists, writers, and journalists, are requested to play a more effective role and make further efforts to abrogate the death penalty from the local legislation by holding seminars, lectures and workshops to spread awareness of the danger of the deliberate use of the death penalty and the negative impact which this penalty could leave on the local communities.
Stopping the codification and implementation of the death penalty in the Arab countries is a basic demand which the Arab jurist organizations are seeking to achieve, not only for the sake of defending human rights, but also for the restoration of the humanity of the State. Arab countries should also draft a new charter that spells out the relationship between the State and its citizens so as to guarantee the ability of the State to hold out and to progress in a society where Man has become its main and decisive element.
The Coalitions against the Death Penalty appeals to the judiciary branch of government in the Arab countries to follow the steps of the Lebanese judiciary. The Lebanese Court of Cassation decided to abrogate the death penalty and to substitute it for another penalty. It also decided to revoke all the death sentences issued by the criminal courts.
1- The Arab Coalition Against the Death Penalty
2- The Egyptian Coalition against the Death Penalty.
3- The Tunisian National Coalition against Death Penalty.
4- The Moroccan Coalition against Death Penalty.
5- The Palestinian Coalition against the Death Penalty.
6- The Yamani Coalition against the Death Penalty.
7- The Jordanian Coalition against the Death Penalty.
8- The
9- The Mauritanian Coalition against the Death Penalty.
10- The Preparatory Committee of the Iraqi Coalition against the Death Penalty.
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12- The Committees for the Defense of Democracy Freedoms and Human Rights in
13- Umbrella for Kuwaiti Action.
14- Algerian League for Defending Human Rights.
