The death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights. It is the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being by the state. It is an inhuman and degrading punishment that is done in the name of justice. It also violates the right to life as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or the method used by the state to kill the prisoner. Egyptian legislation allows for the death sentence to be imposed for a large number of offenses defined by the Penal Code, the Military Code of Justice, the Arms and Ammunition Law, and the Anti-Drug Trafficking Law. Criminal courts in Egypt, which issue all death sentences in cases unrelated to terrorism, offer no recourse to appeal before a higher judicial body. More serious are the death sentences for civilians issued by emergency courts or military tribunals since these courts do not provide the minimum standards of a fair trial. There are no recent figures for the number of executions carried out in Egypt. However, some human rights groups said that since 1992, military tribunals and emergency courts had handed down at least 137 death sentences in terrorism cases, at least 67 of which have been carried out. Egypt said on Thursday Dec 10, 2009, that it will not abolish the death penalty because it is a deterrent, even though human rights groups say that fair trials are not guaranteed.“This penalty is carried out with full guarantees of a fair trial in several phases and the accused is not executed until after an opinion from the mufti,†the country’s most senior Muslim legal scholar. The Law is applied according to Islamic Shari’a in criminal matters on both Muslims and Christians. Islamic Mufti is the one responsible for the Muslims not Christians. Therefore, death penalty should not apply to Christians. The Catholic Church teaches that God is immutable. Christianity in general rejects the capital punishments. The New Testament specifically opposes death penalty. John Paul II believed that capital punishment is “cruel and unnecessaryâ€. With the eternal torture of Hell it should be clear that capital punishment is not the ultimate and deterrent punishment that serves good ends. God is the creator and has the perfect right to take life when He chooses, and, He also has full right to order that it be taken under certain conditions. To believe otherwise is illustrative of either a weak faith, or a total lack of faith in God. Accordingly, the death penalty is not the ultimate punishment that Humans impose against each others. God is the only who chooses the method in which the spirit will depart from the body. “Concern should not be expended on bodily death – for everyone dies – but rather on eternal punishment that is known as “the second death.” The sea gave up its dead; then Death and Hades gave up their dead. All the dead were judged according to their deeds. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the pool of fire. (This pool of fire is the second death.) [Rev. 20:13-14] — Both good deeds and bad deeds have their eternal ramifications. “Certainly, in general, the punishment should fit the crime. But in civilized society, we reject the, an eye for an eye, principle of literally doing to criminals what they do to their victims. The penalty for rape cannot be rape, or for arson, the burning down of the arsonists house. We should not, therefore, punish the murderer with death. BM The beliefs and statements of all Bikya Masr blogumnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect our editorial views.
