November 22, 2024 21:27 (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
Centre to send over 10,000 additional soldiers to violence-hit Manipur amid fresh violence | Chhattisgarh: 10 Maoists killed during encounter with security forces in Sukma | Baba Siddique murder case: Arrested Akashdeep Gill used a labourer's hotspot to evade tracking, say police | Donald Trump picks 'smart and tough' Pam Bondi as new US Attorney General after Matt Gaetz withdraws | Canadian government denies media report that claims PM Modi knew of Khalistani leader Nijjar's killing
UN rights chief urges Maldives to retain decades-long death penalty moratorium

UN rights chief urges Maldives to retain decades-long death penalty moratorium

| | 09 Aug 2016, 10:32 pm
New York, Aug 9 (Just Earth News): Voicing concern over a number of worrying developments regarding capital punishment in the Maldives, the United Nations human rights chief on Tuesday called on the Government to refrain from carrying out planned executions and to uphold the de facto moratorium that has been in place in the country for over six decades.

“The Maldives has long provided important leadership on global efforts to bring an end to the use of the death penalty, so it is deeply regrettable that a series of steps have been taken to resume executions in the country,” Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a press release.

Since last November, the High Court decided that the President may no longer exercise the power of commuting death sentences to life imprisonment; in June this year, capital punishment regulations were further amended to allow for hanging in addition to lethal injections as methods of execution.

Further, in July, the Supreme Court swiftly issued an order cancelling the stay order issued by the High Court and reiterated that its decisions on death sentences are final.

“The death penalty is not effective in deterring crime,” said  Zeid, adding that “a judiciary that is unable to consistently apply fair trial standards and is marred by politicisation must not be allowed to have the final say in matters of life and death.”

There are currently 17 individuals on death row in the Maldives. Some cases raise serious due process concerns, with three of them at imminent risk of execution.

“Maldives has upheld the right to life for more than 60 years,” said the High Commissioner, also urging “the leaders and the people of the Maldives to continue to uphold the moratorium on the death penalty and work towards prohibiting the practice altogether.”

Photo: UNICEF/Rajat Madhok

Source: www.justearthnews.com

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Related Images
Xi Jinping, Putin in Russia 22 Mar 2023, 02:56 pm
Related Videos