Advocate Shahanur Islam, Secretary General of JusticeMakers Bangladesh and BIHR, has demanded for life imposing life imprisonment in serious crimes instead of death penalty to avoid cruel, inhuman and humiliating punishments like death penalty.
Advocate Shahanur Islam said that although most of the countries in the world are in favor of abolishing cruel, inhuman and humiliating punishments like death penalty, still 42 countries of the world, including Bangladesh continue the death penalty, and on the other hand, about 80% of the world, i.e. 155 countries, have completely abolished the death penalty legally or against the death penalty in practice
Furthermore, Advocate Shahanur Islam said that various studies have shown that the death penalty is no more effective than life imprisonment in controlling crime. Moreover, the imposition of the death penalty often carries the risk of wrongfully convicting innocent people; because of no justice system absolutely operates out of error decision. Thus, the death penalty remains an unacceptable threat to human rights, he added.
Advocate Shahanur Islam also said that universal human rights are based on the right to human life and dignity, and the state should not have the power to deny human rights merely as a punishment by taking away this intrinsic value of a man's life by imposing the death penalty.
Moreover, referring the Amnesty International's global report, JusticeMakers Bangladesh and BIHR also pointed out that 220 people were sentenced to death in Bangladesh in 2019, where 39 defendants did not have a defense lawyer and the international justice standards were not followed by Bangladeshi courts when applying the death penalty.
Finally, Advocate Shahanur Islam stated that if the social factors responsible for the occurrence of crime are identified and initiatives are taken to eradicate them and the proper implementation of existing laws can be established, all types of serious and heinous crimes will be reduced and therefore life imprisonment is sufficient as the maximum punishment, instead of death penalty.
With Best Regards
Advocate Shahanur Islam
Secretary General
Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights (BIHR)
JusticeMakers Bangladesh
Cell: 01720308080
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