A debate should be started to prohibit death penalty and the government could stop its execution before deciding on it, Professor F Bellivier, deputy secretary general of International Federation for Human Rights said yesterday.
Poor and illiterate people mostly suffer from death penalty than the rich people as they cannot afford good lawyers and lack legal knowledge, she observed at a press conference held in the capital by Odhikar, a local human rights organisation.
Odhikar organised it to mark the seventh world day against the death penalty and its sixteenth founding anniversary.
Prof Bellivier also said there is no mention in the international laws that the death penalty should be prohibited but the use of it should be very limited.
Currently 58 countries still have death penalty in their laws, she said.
“It is dehumanising that a prisoner in Bangladesh executes another prisoner. If the death penalty exists, then there should be trained and appointed people,” she said.
“We, the International Federation for Human Rights, are against capital punishment and especially mandatory death penalty for any particular crime when judges don’t have any other option than to sentence death penalty.”
Odhikar and International Federation for Human Rights jointly published a report styled ‘Bangladesh, criminal justice through the prism of capital punishment and the fight against terrorism’.
In the report they recommended the justice system and the national human rights commission should be strengthened.
Professor CR Abrar, president of Odhikar said Odhikar is also against death penalty and the organisation keeps watch over the government’s activities. Its monthly human rights report helps people to understand the human rights situation in the country.
“The government will be more responsible if the people are aware of their rights,” he said.
