As UN Votes On Death Penalty, Islamic Countries Seen As Block To Abolition

Earth Times reports that today the United Nations General Assembly will vote on a resolution (full text) calling for a moratorium on the death penalty. The resolution also calls on nations that still maintain the death penalty to respect international standards protecting the rights of defendants in capital cases. In Rome, AKI interviewed former French justice minister Robert Badinter, author of a new book, Against the Death Penalty. Badinter told AKI that the major obstacles to abolishing the death penalty world-wide are regimes run by Islamic fundamentalists. He says that reform within Islam is a prerequisite to success: "If for example, the Moroccan sovereign, who is said to be a direct descendant of the [Islamic] prophet, and who shares the roles of head of state and religious leader, decides to abolish the death penalty, then we find ourselves with an instrument in our hand which can be used to start a dialogue with other Islamic countries."