Post by gellibee on Feb 2, 2007 20:40:35 GMT -5
February 1, 2007:
By the end of April, Morocco will remove the death penalty from its statute books, the president of the state appointed Consultative Committee on Human Rights, Ben Dhikri, confirmed to Adnkronos International.
Dhikri said a "general consensus" in favour of ending capital punishment exists among MPs in the current Moroccan parliament whose term ends in April. Dhikri, who is a close advisor to Morocco's King Mohammed VI, praised the monarch's appointment of a special legal commission tasked with removing capital punishment from the country's penal code.
"The law has already been amended and capital punishment abolished for a number of crimes," Dhikri explained. "The plan now is to revise Morocco's constitution to remove the death penalty," he said.
"No true opposition to abolishing capital punishment exists, but there is some concern about the growth of terrorism and new forms of the phenomenon," Dhikri said.
"The positive aspects of Islam need to be stressed. It does not order people to kill, carry out reprisals or state executions," he added. Arab governments need to show themselves willing to take certain important decisions such as that to abolish capital punishment, and give a lead to a sometimes hesistant public, according to Dhikri.
In Morocco, "a new moral conscience has matured which has contributed to the abolition of the death penalty," he said.
On January 29, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi appealed
to African leaders to help Italy in its attempt to have capital punishment suspended throghout the world.
"We have to be pro life and against death in the same way that we are against injustice and suffering," Prodi said in a speech to the African Union meeting in Ethiopia.
Italy is trying to win support for an international moratorium on the death penalty. "I hope that on the issue of a moratorium on the death penalty, Italy which has mobilised Europe can count on working together with Africa," Prodi said.
By the end of April, Morocco will remove the death penalty from its statute books, the president of the state appointed Consultative Committee on Human Rights, Ben Dhikri, confirmed to Adnkronos International.
Dhikri said a "general consensus" in favour of ending capital punishment exists among MPs in the current Moroccan parliament whose term ends in April. Dhikri, who is a close advisor to Morocco's King Mohammed VI, praised the monarch's appointment of a special legal commission tasked with removing capital punishment from the country's penal code.
"The law has already been amended and capital punishment abolished for a number of crimes," Dhikri explained. "The plan now is to revise Morocco's constitution to remove the death penalty," he said.
"No true opposition to abolishing capital punishment exists, but there is some concern about the growth of terrorism and new forms of the phenomenon," Dhikri said.
"The positive aspects of Islam need to be stressed. It does not order people to kill, carry out reprisals or state executions," he added. Arab governments need to show themselves willing to take certain important decisions such as that to abolish capital punishment, and give a lead to a sometimes hesistant public, according to Dhikri.
In Morocco, "a new moral conscience has matured which has contributed to the abolition of the death penalty," he said.
On January 29, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi appealed
to African leaders to help Italy in its attempt to have capital punishment suspended throghout the world.
"We have to be pro life and against death in the same way that we are against injustice and suffering," Prodi said in a speech to the African Union meeting in Ethiopia.
Italy is trying to win support for an international moratorium on the death penalty. "I hope that on the issue of a moratorium on the death penalty, Italy which has mobilised Europe can count on working together with Africa," Prodi said.