Editorial: Now America cannot kill its prisoners

Passion over compassion

It goes without saying that certain crimes committed in the United States can create the greatest horror, repugnance and revulsion calling for the stiffest sanctions available.

In the case of murders, heinous sexual offences and unspeakable crimes that trammel every feeling for compassion and resist every expression of humanity, it is understandable that state-sanctioned vengeance culminating in the death penalty might seem a fair administration of justice answering for the misdemeanours.

For some in the midst of interminable grief expressed in anger and a passion to see justice done by the end of the life of culprit, they believe they have reached something called closure but the real meaning of this state of being whilst apparently necessary for some and not to be contemned does not enhance our civilisation.

Perfecting the art of murder

Having progressed through the ages from mediaeval implements of grievous torture, through being hung, drawn and quartered, sword beheadings, hanging, the guillotine and then further in America when the science of judicial killing developed in the art of murder with the electric chair and lethal injections, the tide in turning.

In Europe, we have the ultimate punishment of life imprisonment and are stridently against the death penalty that certain of our laws will prevent us sending aliens back to countries where they risk being killed by the judicial process of the state.

Off-shoring death

In January, Hospira Inc. a US-based company decided to stop producing thiopental sodium, an anaesthetic which is as part of the cocktail of drugs used in the administration of the death penalty.

There are difficulties created by ceasing the manufacture of this drug in the United States because it is used as a first-line anaesthetic but its dual-use in the death penalty protocol has meant that European manufacturers have refused to supply this drug to the 34 states that purpose to use the drug for implementing the death penalty.

This development means that either new drugs approved through lengthy judicial processes need to be approved to continue carrying out this mediaeval practice or the dearth of drugs might just force the system to abort the quest for the death penalty.

Expertise in weaponology for mass murder

It is also interesting that the United States being the biggest purveyors of arms and weapons of mass destruction has found itself technically unable to judicially kill its citizens because no local company now produces this essential killing drug.

I am glad that Europeans have refused to help continue this inhumane practice and other companies that might have filled in the gap created by the inactivity of Hospira Inc. are held suspect because the drug is sourced from India.

A cog in the circle of death

For all the modernity, emancipation, development and innovation that America represents, they still exhibit this unhealthy primordial and primeval thirst for blood, death and vengeance that harks back to the Old Testament or jihadist times even if death is apparently humanely administered it is no less savage in its result.

Either way, it is time for Americans to ascribe to greater expressions of humanity and without dictating what that it, it surely does not include the espousing, support and continuance of the death penalty.

Acknowledgements

News of the drug being pulled appeared on various news outlets including the Wall Street Journal, as Hospira Inc. could not produce the drug in its Italian factory it pulled out of its manufacture altogether. A specific request to Germany for the drug has been rejected and other European companies are seeking ways to avoid having their products co-opted to the death penalty protocol.

Indonesia: Two heroin smuggling Nigerians killed

For the want of wholesome ambassadors

The plight of Nigerians abroad is brought into stark relief when those of us who flout the laws of foreign countries are caught to face the full weight of the law.

In the light of my last blog about the introductory remarks made by the new ambassador to the Netherlands, one can almost sympathise with her perspective of Nigerians having a tendency to be less than scrupulous with our business dealings.

However, to subscribe to that view would be defeatist whilst robbing us all of the ability to seek redress for miscarriages of justice or clemency for conviction.

Shot at dawn for drugs

This morning, two Nigerians were shot by firing squad in Indonesian for trying to smuggle heroin into the country [Source- BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Nigerians executed in Indonesia].

They had been on death row since 2004 and somehow, one cannot say that if every avenue for clemency and mitigation was exhausted before they met their end.

There are many that might be persuaded to be ultra-conservative about drug-smugglers and assent to such a draconian punishment for those who bring the name of Nigeria into disrepute.

That does not however mean that our diplomatic representation in those countries should consider should these criminals beyond rehabilitation, redemption or without any prospect.

Obviously, being able to carry out the death penalty on people whose government cares little of their citizens abroad is a picture postcard deterrent to others, probably foreigners than indigenes.

Countries that fight for life

When I then juxtapose this against that of the three Australians who have been through the exhaustive process of appealing every conviction till their sentences were commuted to life in prison [Source - BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Bali three win execution appeal] – I am touched by the thought of a country that fights for the life and if possible, the liberty of their citizens anywhere in the world.

The Nigerians who were much older than the Australians only had 7kg of heroin; the lucky Australians had 8.3kg – it makes you wonder if regardless of the laws of the host nations our ambassadors have the wherewithal to exercise a sense of compassion and appeal to the humanity of the law to obtain clemency or commutations on behalf of the citizens they represent.

For now, I am not inspired by what I have seen done to Nigerians in Britain, Spain or Saudi Arabia and I am quite sorry about this state of affairs.

One aspect that can strengthen our resolve against the death penalty anywhere else in the world is to repeal that punishment from our statute books entirely. [Source - Capital punishment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]

Homosexuality in Nigeria - Condemning bigots who seek death

Suffering a different sexuality

It is no more a surprise that people whose sexuality does not align with the majority can get persecuted in some societies; however, African societies tend to prosecute them.

Add religious intolerance and tyrannical moralising to the mix and you have the result of people being condemned to death for being different.

Now, there are certain punishments which might serve as deterrents to others when it comes to crimes, but how would capital punishment serve as a deterrent to a situation that is inherently accepted as genetic?

Homosexuality a norm

Medical science no more considers homosexuality a mental disease, an aberration or treatable condition, it is a norm for the people who exhibit those tendencies and the same people have been, are and will continue to be worthy and contributing members of our societies whether we accept them or not.

Nigeria comes to the fore on this matter again as 18 men were remanded in custody for transvestism and homosexual practices (for those who seek great revulsion – sodomy) in a state that practices Sharia Law – Bauchi State.

When I was in Paris in June, I observed the Gay Pride march where a group against capital punishment highlighted a number of nations that imposed the death penalty on homosexuals (See Slideshow) - Sign their petition if your are concerned.

Stoning a taboo

Nigeria prominently featured in that list and it got me worried and quite concerned that all death sentences imposed through Sharia Law have yet to be carried out in Nigeria, but the possibility of execution is getting closer than is comfortable to countenance.

What better way to excite a lynching mob since the stoning of these people would most likely be done by the public who would be provided the stones to commit a public murder than to present them with a homosexual?

This is a human rights issue has been hijacked by irrational religionists and painted with the epithet of a taboo – but whose taboo is it anyway? And what right has anyone to make their taboo a crime on others who do not subscribe to that taboo?

Bigots deserve no tolerance

However, beyond the news of these arrests comes the comments (scroll down the linked page to see selected comments) that accompany the news, people who want to appear objective and rational spew out the most savage and primitive notions predicated on nothing but religious adherence and the willingness to sacrifice fellow human beings on the altar of fanaticism and irrational thought, with the hope that it makes them better human beings or committed religionists in line for great heavenly reward. I think not.

These selfsame people are the cancer that eats into our societies and deprives our humanity of talented, reasonable, tolerant and albeit different people to perpetuate an illusion of ridding our societies of corruption and moral laxities.

In my view, if anyone so advocates the death penalty for people being who they naturally are and are found committing supposedly victimless crimes amongst consenting partners then the accuser does not deserve justice for wanting to unnecessarily punish the innocent to validate their bigoted and prejudiced views, they should be first in line for the stoning - be they bishops, disciples, imams, politicians, fanatics or people who just refuse to use their God-given right to think and rationalise.

Our societies can tolerate and accept homosexuals but we must not tolerate or accommodate bigots and religious fanaticism that fork lifts Scripture for their own selfish ends seeking evil rather than mercy, speaking death rather than saving life.

So Saddam dies

More for the body count

As if enough blood has not been shed in Mesopotamia, the death sentence of Saddam Hussein has now been confirmed without option for appeal or commutation.

As usual, the appeal of humanity and barbarity welcomes this announce, Europe asking that this sentence rescinded and America heralding it as the quest for Iraq to "replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law". It all sounds hollow to me.

The death of Saddam would not suddenly staunch the flow of blood just as his capture did not change the ferocity of the insurgency.

The miscarriage of justice would be so evident in the finality of his death, as I once stated, Saddam is now guilty of one specific crime, the killings in the town of Dujail, however, he is accused of many others and probably would be guilty of those too.

If however, his sentence is carried out within the next 30 days, the other crimes and accussations would possibly be tried post-humously - so is the legacy of the rule of law that America has bequeath to Iraq.

Illegimate justice

Basically, I do not expect any lawyer to waste their time trying to defend a man who is dead and buried, except if there is a principle at stake. That principle of has already been compromised and made of non-effect by what constituted a circus of a kangaroo court, accepted by many but would hardly be legitimate by ordinary Western standards.

Beyond that, if the death sentence is to be carried out, there is a tradition to execute military men by firing squad, to kill Saddam Hussein as a common criminal by hanging, having ruled his country for about 30 years, albeit tyrannically would leave all involved lesser men that they purport themselves to be.

Blood thirsty plague

There is however a deficit of global leadership on dealing with tyranny, if Zimbabwe, Burma (Myanar), Sudan and North Korea, to name a few thrive on oppressing their people and quenching their aspirations to better government.

Then the appeals court in confirming Saddam Hussein´s sentence was of the opinion that the life sentence given to one defendant was too lenient - baying for more blood obviously.

It can be said that before America visited Iraq, the blood-thirstiness was the preserve of the cabal of Saddam´s kith and kin, now, everyone has a taste for blood, in my view, these sacrifices of human beings would not bring peace, love and joy to Iraq, not that it has brought any respite to all involved.

Death eludes the State

Whoops! Missed death

The circus around the Al-Qaeda wannabe moves to the lion handling the whip with the man jumping through hoops of fire.

Everyone who is anyone in authority would hold a press conference to commend first, and praise each other to the point of immodesty. We would suffer the back-slapping and the roll call of names of no particular significance jostling for recognition to the point of extreme boredom. Phew!

Zacarias Moussaoui, they claim had an inside on 9/11 as he was arrested on immigration charges weeks before the event; the case was built around the view that he had knowledge of an event that the authorities might have been able to prevent.

The authorities were awash with other bits of knowledge they could have acted on but they were found wanted – Moussaoui, it would appear afterwards might have had less than a bit part or scant knowledge of the events.

Death becomes the state

What is most interesting and might be the turning point in the American polity is the whole weight of the federal government and prosecution was for the imposition of the death penalty.

There was a separate hearing to determine if the death penalty should feature in sentencing, which was almost derailed but some underhand activities by a member of the prosecution.

The defence team appealed to a greater sense of humanity; the fact that another tragedy of the death of a would-be terrorist would not bring the closure that would assuage the pain of victims but celebrate the death of a martyr to a despicable cause.

It shows that a jury can exercise a greater resolve of conscience than the machine of state which just needs to be seen doing something, even it is not right.

Death is no real justice

In Europe, we have already resolved that no vengeance is served with capital punishment; we hold the sanctity of human life as something to be valued to the point of natural expiration.

It informs why we still have serious ethical issues with euthanasia and abortion.

In the end, a jury voted in the majority and relatives of victims of 9/11 who might be in their rights in to demand the death penalty agreed to the sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole.

In some places, his sentence might be considered harsh, in that we are not certain of what knowledge Moussaoui had of 9/11 and if whatever knowledge he had would have helped the government in absolution of their dereliction of responsibility.

Where be the big fish?

More damning, is the fact that this man who has been a media celebrity for 4 and a half years is very small fry compared to the blue whales of the Al Qaeda leadership who frequently remind us that they are still about and sending forth troops for the global jihad.

At large, at peace and at liberty, they mock the global superpower to derision and more so after they could not persuade a jury of 12 to do their bidding.

This, I would say, this is the death knell of the death penalty in America, the people have spoken, I just hope the president and governors are listening.

Gubernator in Terminator IV

CNN – Breaking News!

As I packed my bags yesterday to exploit an advancement of civilization I had one eye on the television observing a very interesting debasement of civilization.

This issue had been bothering me for a while, but it represents an interesting aspect of what is called closure when a very dramatic and bad event in some people’s lives dominates every waking moment in the quest for “closure”, though I am doubtful that the completion mercifully brings release to their troubled souls.

The United States with its warped democracy stands at the vanguard of the death penalty where a man in the position of governor has the right to exercise mercy or resolve in completing to act of withdrawing life from someone convicted of a crime that exacts capital punishment.

Not three weeks ago, there was a clamour about the death penalty in Singapore, where a 23-year-old took to drug smuggling to pay off the debts of his Australian twin brother, got caught and then hung 2 years after.

One can contend that calling Singapore a democracy is a misnomer, but that is another debate which can also question the real efficacy of the American version.

At just the same time in , another was being given a lethal invention having failed to get political sway to have the sentence commuted by the governor.

This is because the death penalty just as abortion and gay marriage pull at the heart strings of what makes the American society comfortable within its own skin.

Actors in Terminator X

As I once commented, some men in leadership have not consummated their leadership without having exercised the ability to send men to their deaths. Presidents achieve that through wars both necessary and unnecessary; governors do that in at the behest of crime and punishment.

So, having spent almost 35 minutes trying and eventually successfully putting a man to death, where the activity could have just been filmed and relayed on some pay-per-view channel, we were offered a number of witnesses to the judicious murder to relay what happened.

Only 12 in a Jury

A cavalcade of 6 journalists were brought on stage to tell of what they had witnessed, each introduced themselves by name and spelling each name out their representation and gave a view of what happened.

Then another 6, until 24 journalists had given their views – I doubt if there were up to 24 witnesses that sent the man to the gallows, and a jury only comprises of 12 people.

The man was walked to the gurney and strapped down to be killed and some maintained that he was trying to intimidate the audience.

Intimidate? The guy was being lead helplessly to his death and he was intimidating – sometimes journalists should just stick to news giving than analysis.

Probably the man being killed had the grace to face his punishment, for the journalists who observed the intimidation; they might as well be filling their pants at the thought a visit to the dentist.

More blacks as CEO?

Suffice it to say that almost equal percentages of black and white people are on death row, the discrepancy is in the fact that 12% and 69% are the respective population distributions in the USA.

When the man was first sentenced it was 11% and 79% respectively. Go figure! However, more whites have had the sentence carried out than blacks though.

It is impossible not to see a race issue here, but then if any social scientist can explain this demography and suggest how to bring the numbers to proportional representation then speak up.

The great unwashed looking

One can commend for not setting up their activities as some fanfare reminiscent of the Bastille and guillotine days, where the mobs witnessed executions baying for blood and the Taliban did by filling stadiums with witnesses that saw people being shot in the head.

Feeding Christians to lions was a pastime in ancient Rome; in modern the family of the victim are accorded front-row seats with journalists as the unwashed onlookers.

We have come a long way from barbarism only to become decent barbarians – civilisation can only do so much for converting basic human instinct, fascination and curiosity still reign especially when witnessing the putting to death of another man even though man would cringe at the killing of a cow.

Getting back to civilisation, I have a plane to catch.