October 10 is the world day against the death penalty, a day that can be reminiscent of respect for human dignity and right to life. A day in which many human rights activists and organizations object to death penalty sentences and chant “No to the death penalty” like previous years. Time passes and we face harsher realities tackling the death penalty.
This day has been an opportunity for me to communicate about ways of fighting against the death penalty. I have zest for advocacy against the death penalty. Being hailed in Iran with its death penalty legal system, I started my career as a lawyer more professionally in 2004. Islamic law was replaced in Iran after the 1979 revolution. My practical and theoretical work enabled me to actively fight against the death penalty for six years. During this time, I visited 300 prisoners who were sentenced to death. I defended their cases, but focused more on children under the age of 18, among whom I successfully saved 25 from execution. Besides, I defended 13 convicts who were sentenced to stoning and saved 11 of them. The other two are still in prison. Prior to 2010, in cooperation with many human rights activists and journalists, I was able to launch the international campaigns of stop stoning and execution of children, which resulted in many positive reforms in Iran’s legal rules. That is to say, the death penalty was dropped as a punishment to many crimes committed by children under 18. In August 2010, I was forced to leave Iran and seek refuge in Norway and have continued my human rights activism till date.
Living outside Iran is an eye-opener to me in which I have been able to realize that some human rights organizations prioritize presenting a good face to the world rather than conducting effective work on the ground. In effect, I try to say that whenever an unfair policy is adopted, elimination of the death penalty is not met but only met with lip service. Slogan is not enough and reasonable practical methods are necessary for elimination of the death penalty.
What can be done against the death penalty?
In this article I have mentioned ten steps in the process of fighting the death penalty. It is not necessary to review the disadvantages of the death penalty as many scholars have talked about it; much research has been done and many books written on the subject. I have stipulated herein a step-by-step approach to be ascended till we get to the last rung of the ladder on the path to fight against the death penalty. These steps are the social, cultural, political and economic conditions of specific periods in each society. Elimination of the death penalty needs different procedure in Islamic countries in comparison to un-Islamic countries. This does not mean that elimination of the death penalty is not possible, but needs more cautious strategies. It is commonly believed that human kind no matter from what part of the world is by nature kind and passionate, but surrounding conditions, religious, political, cultural, and economic situations have caused persistence of death penalty in legal systems. I have explained the model of steps in this article, but if anybody requires more elaboration I would be happy to discuss the issue in person.
First step:
The first step is to remove any slogans against the death penalty and proceed with practical work. We have heard for thousand times: “ no death penalty”, “ stop execution”, “ death penalty is against humanity”, “ death penalty is a barbaric punishment” and “ we condemn death penalty” . I personally do not oppose such slogans, but reality shows that slogans move us away from our original goal. When in a Muslim country in which the death penalty is highly practiced, such a slogan is chanted, it indicates that the Islamic law is challenged publically, because the death penalty is permitted by the Islamic law and it is not possible to eradicate it from the Islamic rules by slogans. As for the death penalty, power does not count if it is not managed wisely. Fighting against Islamic law surely is not a good option to eliminate the death penalty, which is the reason many human rights organizations are active in Muslim countries and other countries like India. In-depth research and fundamental studies are essential to understand how the death penalty should be challenged in different context.
The only possible way to challenge the death penalty is to save the lives of convicts who are in death row especially in Islamic countries. This can gradually pave the way for limiting the scope of crimes with death punishment. This step is the first and foremost step in the process of fighting against the death penalty. Expensive seminars, conferences and meetings are not leading us anywhere; rather cultural and social activities on the ground are the most effective strategies for replacing violence with peace and tolerance.
Source: Mohammad Mostafaei, Universal Tolerance, October 9, 2013. Mr. Mostafaei is an Iranian human rights lawyer and Director of Universal Tolerance Organization.
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