With more than 100 death penalties already issued this year activists are increasingly questioning the effectiveness of capital punishment, reports Dena Rashed The red suit has been associated in people's mind with the criminal waiting for the death sentence and so has the death sentence for murderers in Egyptian society. With 111 death sentences passed this year -- there were 60 alone in May and June -- many human rights groups have demanded the abolition of the death penalty. Their calls have lent impetus to the debate on capital punishment, conducted in newspapers and talk shows, where human rights activists and religious scholars happily argue over the rights of individuals and of society, of the perpetrators of crime and their victims. Appearing in May, "I call for the abolition of the death penalty" was the title of the first of several articles by Al-Ahram writer Sherif Al-Shoubashi which fanned the controversy. Certainly, the plethora of violent crimes reported in the press has left many people worried about their personal safety. Ten people were sentenced to death in June for the brutal gang rape of a 21- year-old housewife, abducted from her home in Kafr Al-Sheikh governorate in January 2006. In Wadi Al-Natroun, a dispute over land led to the murder of 11 people. By the end of the ensuing trial 24 people had been handed the death sentence and five given life sentences. Two days ago seven defendants in a vendetta case in Benha were given capital sentences. There have been other, equally disturbing cases, all of which received major media coverage. Giza Criminal Court sentenced Mahmoud Eissawi to death after he was found guilty of the murder of two students, Heba Al-Aqqad and Nadine Khaled, at the latter's house in 6 October governorate. Among the most high profile of recent murder cases, businessman and Shura Council member Hisham Talaat Mustafa, and former State Security officer Mohsen El-Sukkari, were sentenced to death for the murder of the Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim. The seeming upsurge in violent crime makes lawyer Nigad El-Borei, head of the Group of Democratic Development, question the deterrent role of capital punishment. The death sentence, he says, is not only barbaric and irreparable but "does not lead to lower crime rates and might even increase levels of violence". El-Borei, like many other activists, has called for capital sentences to be restricted to cases of premeditated murder. Currently the death sentence can be handed to those convicted of terrorism and espionage, premeditated murder, kidnap associated with rape and drug dealing. "We need not only examine the causes of violent crimes, but objectively assess whether state-sanctioned killing of people, as in the death sentence, actually makes life safer," says El-Borei. Despite the brutality of many cases, particularly those involving rape, El-Borei does not believe executing the perpetrators is the answer. "Brutality should not be punished by brutality. We are facing difficult times. Many young men are unemployed, they lack the resources to get married and in a society that condemns non-marital sexual relationships they are prey to frustration," he says. Though he hopes for the death penalty to be abolished in the future, El-Borei argues the state should enforce Al-Dyia (an Islamic provision that allows the family of the victim to pardon the culprit and accept monetary compensation instead). Though happy to cite religious precedents as a way around capital sentencing, El-Borei does not believe religious figures should be involved in the decision-making process or the debate. "This is a political decision and since we don't apply Al-Hodoud, we don't cut off the hands of thieves, why then apply the death sentence to murderers?" The sheikh of Al-Azhar, Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, announced last December that there is no conflict between capital punishment and human rights. Al-Qisas (the Islamic law decreeing the equality in punishment in premeditated murder cases) he argued, is the only legitimate guarantee of people's property and dignity. The Grand Mufti of Egypt Sheikh Ali Gomaa, has so far declined to comment on calls to abolish the death penalty. Former Grand Mufti Nasr Farid Wasel told Al-Ahram Weekly : "God has decreed Al-Qisas in the Quran, allowing the severity of the punishment to equal that of the crime in cases of premeditated murder, and people cannot interfere with that. The death penalty acts as a deterrent to violence and its abolition could increase vendetta cases. Why are people now talking about the rights of murderers and forgetting those of the victims?" "Islam allows Al-Dyia, but the court also has the right to impose penalties it thinks appropriate for the crime as discretionary punishment [ taazir ]." Wasel points out that crimes falling in the category of spreading mischief in the land ( fasad fil Al-Ard ) are also punishable by death in Islam. "These include crimes that threaten the safety and security of society, such as drug dealing. If such criminals are caught before they repent they should receive the death penalty as well. There are certain crimes for which the death penalty cannot be abolished, but others for which a lesser punishment may be better than a harsher one." Wasel stresses capital sentences can only be handed down when the judges are sure the evidence is irrefutable. Article 381 of the Penal Code states that the death penalty must be agreed upon by the three presiding judges. Article 2/281 further stipulates that the mufti be consulted to ensure the verdict complies with Islamic law, though his opinion is not mandatory on the court. In the event of the death sentence being issued the court must disclose the reasons for its verdict within 30 days. Failure to do so automatically results in a retrial. The Court of Cassation can also order a retrial on appeal, any verdict of which must once again be presented to the mufti. In addition, Article 470 of the Penal Code stipulates that the implementation of any final verdict is contingent on the approval of the president of the republic who can pardon, or change the sentence, of the convicted defendant.
