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AI asks president to halt implementation of death penalty
View(s):Amnesty International (AI) has written an open letter to President Maithripala Sirisena urging that the implementation of the death penalty be halted.
“Executions, Mr President, are not a show of strength but an admission of weakness,” Secretary General of AI, Kumi Naidoo said in the letter.
Mr Naidoo added that the implementation of the death penalty represents the failure to create a society in which the right to life is superseded by the temptations of vengeance.
He stressed that the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights to which Sri Lanka is a party, restricts the use of the death penalty in countries that have not yet abolished it.
The Secretary General also pointed out that the death penalty is being practised by only a “shrinking minority of countries”.
Even in countries that continue to implement the death penalty, Mr Naidoo insisted that “there is a growing recognition that the death penalty is not an effective deterrent for drug-related crimes.”
Further, he also cited the abolishment of the death penalty in Singapore and Hong Kong as examples.
The crime rates in both countries concerned have remained similar although the death penalty was abolished in Hong Kong more than 50 years ago when compared to Singapore in which the punishment is still in effect, the letter argued.
He also referred to the example of Iran which has seen a decrease in the number of executions since the drug laws were revised in the country.
The AI Secretary General also forewarned President Sirisena to refrain from following measures adopted by the Filipino government regarding drug-related offences.