The state of Texas - USA, executed an inmate a few days ago, it’s 400th since reinstating the death penalty three decades ago; he remained on death row for nearly 9 years, his crime was murder; there are now over three hundred other inmates waiting for their ticket to be punched in, all of them incarcerated for heinous crimes committed, all punishable by death.
Most Texans have accept this as a fact of life and unanimously agree that hard criminals deserve nothing less; but there are some that think otherwise, and continue to protest, staging their dissatisfaction outside the prison gates; before, during and after executions.
In the GCC, Saudi Arabia leads the way with the most executions. Some of them I’ve heard were for hate crimes and murders, others I’m not sure about, but when the power to decide whom can be executed rests with zealous hard-line religious leaders and not the courts, that is somewhat worrisome.
Iran, another country that executes criminals regularly, statistically has the most number of executions in the Gulf region; there have been cases of murderers, rapists, and armed criminals being publicly executed, in the middle of the town streets, using cranes as a lynching platform, for all to see.
In the recent unrest, instigated by the implementation of a ration / quota system for fuel disbursement, a lot of disgruntled Iranians took to the streets in protest; they looted shops and burnt cars. Many were captures; I’ve heard that some were executed and made examples of, soon after the protests stopped. Yet another example, of the misuse of power, by a government that does not follow due diligence, nor has a proper legal system.
Bahrain too is no stranger to executions; over a decade ago a Bahraini was executed for the alleged premeditated murder of a police officer. In 2006, three men were hanged in prison for murder. Today, one Bahraini and three foreigners are waiting on death row, all for heinous acts of premeditated murder, there may be more but figures are hard to obtain. One of the foreigners, i believe, was executed during the beginning of 2007.
I’ve heard/read that Bahrain now retains Executions (‘Capital Punishment,) specifically for the crime of ‘Drug traffickers’. ??????
On 30th December 2006, Saddam Hussain, the infamous butcher of Iraq was executed; he was convicted by an Iraqi tribunal setup specifically to impeach him for his crimes against the Iraqi people. The tribunal turned out to be a joke; the only conviction attained was for the crimes he committed leading to the ‘deaths of over 140 men in the town of Dujail, in1982’.
He raped, pillaged, and plundered Iraq’s wealth and rich culture; he tortured the Iraqi people, and slaughtered and executed hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, wiped out all of the opposition, used chemical weapons of the Kurdish civilians, not forgetting the atrocities that were committed during the Iran - Iraq war; and lets not forget when the dog turned and bit the hand that fed it, the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, and subsequent seven months of occupation resulted in the rape, torture and execution of many Kuwaiti nationals.
He should not have been executed then and there, just for one of his crimes, but rather, they should have kept him alive and continued the trial until he was convicted with ALL of the crimes he is, was guilty of, and after divulging the names of his foreign accomplish / silent partners in crime, whom ever and where ever, they were. Only then was he to be PUBLICALLY EXECUTED.
Executing him before the 2007 New Year began was a foolish decision, which played right in to the American government’s hands. He was made a martyr rather than being portrayed as the ruthless & black hearted Dictator that he really was….
In some countries, people have been executed because they were revolutionists attempting to over throw rogue or dictatorial governments or political opponents trying to run against them.
People’s views on Execution’s differ, for one, I condone it in cases of child molestation (proven beyond a shred of reason doubt), Rape & Sodomy (again with the presence of forensic evidence) and premeditated murder, INSTIGATORS OF Genocide and the henchmen who carry them out, and yes, Drug Traffickers as well (being caught red handed is proof enough for me).
Wait there’s more; I’d want others to be added to the list of people that deserve to executed;
a) War Mongers and the defenders of oppression,
b) Terrorists,
c) Soldier, Armed & Special Forces that attack civilians,
d) Leaders of Governments that do not recognize the Sovereignty of States and order invasions,
e) Any one who attacks or uses civilians in their causes;
There are many others………….
I was waiting on the former leaders, Milosevic (Yugoslavian - Died in Prison) & Radovan Karadzic (Bosnia Serb- There is a $5 million reward out for his arrest) to be convicted, and then executed for instigating genocide / ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ against the Christians & Muslims…..
Oh yah, yet another young Texan is waiting on ‘Death Row’, to be executed this week, just read today’s Tribune, his crime, being present in the vicinity of a Murder; he was accompanying the person who shot the victim.
