Azleen: Objective isn’t to kill people, but to save lives

Minister of Home Affairs, Ahmed Azleen has commented that authorities were expediting execution of capital punishment in Maldives. And that the objective was not to kill people unjustly, but to save lives.

Speaking during the function held this Thursday to mark Human Rights Day, Minister Azleen said the principle of “a life for a life” as advocated in Holy Quran needed to be implemented in Maldives.

“Today, as all procedure surrounding the law of a life for a life is being established; I want to clarify that the objective is not to not kill people unjustly, but to rather save lives. So the people of Maldives need to be aware of this,” said Azleen.

Minister Azleen said that the sad truth of a history of bloody murders spread over the last decade needs to be acknowledged.

He said the violence had taken the life of a leading Islamic scholar serving the parliament – Dr. Afrasheem Ali – and countless other innocent souls.

He stressed that the right to life was the most fundamental human right of every individual.

“The most fundamental, the most basic human right is the right to live. Who can believe any human right can be protected in a place where the right to live isn’t protected,” said Azleen.

He said that while people expressed concern and intervened over human rights of prisoners sentenced over murders, people also needed to be concerned over the rights of people who have lost their lives as a result of such violent crimes.

He said that no individual living in a mature society had the right to take another’s life.

“No human has the right to violate the right to life of another person within this Maldivian community, with its democratic values. So we need to protect this human right,” said Minister Azleen.

In his speech, Minister Azleen said that there wasn’t another country which protected human rights as much as Maldives.