This year as Mauritius is getting ready to celebrate its 40th Independence Day the leader of MSM is talking of bringing back capital punishment. He believes society in general is facing tremendous changes and that a all kinds of crimes are on the increase. This is affecting our civilized way of life. His only solution is bring back capital punishment to deal with those who commit serious crimes by way of dealing with these social degradations.
While many other countries are abolishing this heinous way of ending lives of criminals this leader is advocating restoration of capital punishment.“On le sait parfaitement : la peine de mort n'a pas de vertus dissuasives, le niveau de sécurité d'une société ne dépend pas de la sévérité de sa peine maximale pour un délit,” wrote Gilbert Ahnee(Le Mauricien,18/2/08).He added “Ce n'est pas, M. Jugnauth, en envoyant quelques-uns à l'échafaud que vous ferez valoir vos mérites pour la guérir de ses maux.”
This capital punishment talk from the MSM leader has begun to raise concern among right think people and bodies like the local Amnesty International. The Mauritian director of AI, Mr Lindley Courone,has written to Pravind Jugnauth about his concerns on this matter. “l'exécution des détenus, condamnés pour assassinat, n'a jamais eu un effet dissuasif sur la criminalité,” he said and expressed his astonishment to see modern leaders these days are willing to go back to “ l’ère préhistorique;” la barbarie n’engendre que la barbarie. »
Capital punishment is used in many countries around the world. According to Amnesty International figures as at May 2007, 68 countries and territories retain the death penalty, although many never actually use it. China executes the most people per year overall, with an estimated figure of 1,010 in 2006. Amnesty International also states that in 2006, Iran executed 177 people, Pakistan 82, Iraq and Sudan both at least 65 and that there were 53 executions in the USA.
Based on public reports available, Amnesty International estimated that at least 1,010 people were executed in China during the year [2006], although these figures are only the tip of the iceberg. Credible sources suggest that between 7,500 to 8,000 people were executed in 2006. The official statistics remain a state secret, making monitoring and analysis problematic. Amnesty International, May 2007.In March 2004 a delegate at the National People's Congress said that "nearly 10,000" people are executed per year in China. Amnesty International, 2006.There is now steadily increasing support for abolishing capital punishment.
Our Prime Minister and others are going regularly to India and political leaders from India are always in talks with Mauritius. Are our leaders being influenced by their Indian friends regarding capital punishment? I hope not. The debate on capital punishment in India was revived in 2004 by the case of Dhananjoy Chatterjee who had been sentenced for rape and murder.
At present more than 100 people are on death row in India, although the number of executions in that country is actually very low and the Indian Supreme Court has ruled that the death penalty should only be used in the rarest of rare cases.
Even in UK also whenever there are some heinous crimes committed people begin to talk of bringing back capital punishment as a deterrent. News on Sunday ( 24 Feb,08) noted: “We were unlucky enough to witness the aftermath of two such crimes in quick succession last week. Steve Wright became one of a mercifully small number of convicted British serial killers after murdering five prostitutes in Ipswich. Then Mark Dixie was imprisoned for life for killing model Sally Anne Bowman and raping her as she lay dead or dying. Such brutal crimes inevitably raise questions about how we treat people whose actions make them unfit to hold a place in society.”
The relatives of these victims made clear their preferred solution: bring back hanging or some other form of capital punishment. The paper said “But, even though we sympathise, we should resist their calls. What they seek is revenge – and understandably so. What society must seek is justice – and the two are not the same thing. Even though opinion polls regularly show support for a return of the death penalty, this newspaper believes that it would be a retrogressive step,–and not just because mistakes can be made. The taking of any human life, however undeserving, demeans us all. It also makes us the same as those we seek to punish.”
Mauritian political leaders too have a duty to seek justice to restore social equilibrium on the island.
No matter how good or convenient it sounds Mauritius should not be thinking of solving her problems the MSM way. I hope the people of Mauritius have enough common sense to move forward with progress and face social changes on the island with courage and conviction without resorting to this barbaric method of control in the 21st century.