Ban Ki-moon calls for the abolishment of death penalty

While calls for the implementation of the death penalty are on the rise in the Maldives, the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has today called on Member States to abolish the death penalty.

According to the UN official website, Mr Ban made this statement while speaking at a panel discussion organized by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Mr Ban stressed that the right to life lies at the heart of international human rights law.

“The taking of life is too absolute, too irreversible, for one human being to inflict on another, even when backed by legal process,” Mr Ban said at the panel discussion.

Meanwhile, several politicians and members of the public have been calling for the implementation of death penalty in the Maldives, following the sharp increase in murders in the country.

Chief Justice Faiz Hussain also said today that there are no legal obstacles to the implementation of death penalty in Maldives, as it is part of the judicial system.

Mr Ban also expressed concern that some countries still allow juvenile offenders under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged offence to be sentenced to death and executed.

The UN General Assembly endorsed a call for a worldwide moratorium of the death penalty in 2007, following which the practice was abolished by countries like Argentina, Burundi, Gabon, Latvia, Togo and Uzbekistan. The death penalty has been abolished by more than 150 states.

Despite ten people being sentenced to death in the Maldives over the past ten years, none of the sentences have been executed.

However following the brutal murder of the late lawyer Ahmed Najeeb, several senior officials of the judiciary and government have made statements implying support for the implementation of the death penalty. The death penalty is allowed in Islamic Sharia.