Gheddafi vorrebbe abolire la pena di morte.

TRIPOLI, 2 NOV - Il colonnello Gheddafi vorrebbe abolire la pena di morte in Libia ma i congressi del popolo si  oppongono ritenendo che ''il momento non e' ancora maturo''. Lo ha dichiarato il leader libico in un discorso ad una riunione con magistrati, avvocati e studenti di legge sottolineando che comunque e' una decisione ''che non deve dipendere da pressioni esterne''.

L'abolizione della pena di morte- gia' peraltro in passato sollecitata da Gheddafi- sarebbe risolutiva nella vicenda delle inque infermiere bulgare e del medico palestinese condannati a morte in maggio per avere, secondo l'accusa, deliberatamente infettato centinaia di bambini con il virus dell'aids. Una sentenza denunciata con forza da Unione europea e Stati Uniti.

''L'abolizione della pena di morte non deve essere il risultato di pressioni economiche, politiche o di sicurezza come quelle esercitate sulla Turchia per il suo ingresso in Europa'', ha aggiunto Gheddafi, citato dall'agenzia Jana. ''Una decisione simile deve derivare dal progresso della societa', essere frutto di mentalita' civilizzate'', ha proseguito indicando di averlo spiegato al corpo legislativo ed esecutivo che ha respinto la proposta in quanto ''non convinto''.

Libyan Jamahiriya Broadcasting Corporation

LIBYA: The Leader's speech about capital punishment

The Leader of the Revolution, Muammar al-Gathafi correlated between the seriousness of abrogation of capital punishment on one hand , and advancement and human civility on the other. In his speech Sunday with heads and members of juridical institutions, university Law teaching staff, post -graduate and final year students from the universities of al-Fateh, Seven of April and al-Mergib, he ruled out that the seriousness of abolishing of capital punishment should be a result of any political, economic, or security pressures from outside.

"Any how, in order to be serious, abolishing capital punishment, should be as a result of advancement and civility, not a result of pressures as now pressures are exercised on Turkey in order to get accepted into the European Union, to be exercised against us all in the Mediterranean, or the third world in order to join Western society" he stressed.

"When a backward state abolishes capital punishment to appease others or to gain benefits such as Turkey for example, such a state would practice capital punishment in a worse manner, it would continue to neutralize its opponents in other than the traditional methods, which are courts and lawyers, and the situation would be by far worse, because such a state did not abolish capital punishment as a result of advancement, civility, and culture, or because such society has become so highly civilized, refined and humanitarian so much so it started to feel indignation and despise killings of human beings and capital punishment etc." the Leader underscored.

"But to abrogate capital punishment in order to have access to the EEC, the EU, the Mediterranean, Barcelona, the UN, etc. or to get a loan, and not to be subjected to coups, this is mere demonstration of courtesy and say I have abrogated capital punishment. Therefore, this is not the fruit of advancement, as such that this punishment becomes psychologically unacceptable, because the country which abrogates capital punishment, has no people killing one another with knives or guns," the Leader explained.

"How capital punishment would be abrogated at courts, while we leave the same members of society kill each other in the streets with knives, guns, batons, or even by cars when they drive in high speed" the Leader wondered.

"When a man becomes civilized, and has a degree of awareness and advancement so much so that he controls the speed of his car and knows its consequences, and that he would never purchase a knife to kill someone else, nor a gun even for self-defense purpose, because he knew that the other party is refined and civilized, and its not possible to use the knife or a gun against him. In such a case, the abolishing of capital punishment becomes a result of civility and not as a result of fear, greed, swindle, or hypocrisy," the Leader stressed.

The Leader Muammar al-Gathafi underscored that "we who are keen to abrogate capital punishment in its true meaning, which is to abrogate the execution of a human being through both the judicial and the extrajudicial channels." "The human being must be respected every where and his blood must not be spilled out and that the killing of a human being by any means is forbidden" the leader urged.

Speaking Sunday to heads and members of juridical institutions, university's law teaching staff, post-graduate and final year law students from the universities of al Fateh, Seven of April and al -Mergib, High Studies Academy, and the Green Auditorium, the Leader underscored; "They should stop wars, invasions, colonialism and we also should stop the same thing from our side, including stopping of judicial executions through courts." "All kinds of executions should stop; the execution of peoples as well as individuals should stop. In courts individuals are executed and peoples are executed extra judicially. Now, the Iraqi people are sentenced to capital punishment, so are the Palestinian peoples, extra judicially and in masses, without trial and without defense," he stressed.

"We are anxious to abrogate, capital punishment in its true meaning which is to forbid the execution of the human being judicially and extra judicially. We must start with the most important which is to stop the execution of human beings extra judicially, stop mass executions, and death squads which should stop carrying out executions. Death squads are those called armies" he explained.

The Leader stressed that he asked the Basic People's Congresses in Libya to abolish capital punishment but they disagreed.

"The basic peoples congresses, they disagreed, because they still unconvinced with the measure. How capital punishment should be abolished, when one gets to the street and got attacked by somebody with a knife, and in order not to repeat such act by someone else, he must fear, and know that if he attacked another person with a knife and killed him he would be executed."

"The Libyan people were conscious, and said capital punishment, which al-Gathafi wanted to get abrogated, should not be abolished, because he [al-Gathafi] wanted to consider us a civilized country, and wanted to boast before the European and America, the UN, Asia and Africa and others. If Muammar wanted Libya to be a civilized state, that abrogates capital punishment, and that his ideas are as such, we for our part contemplate from a realistic perspective that capital punishment should not be abrogated" the Leader explained.

"I�ve heard what the Libyan people said in peoples congresses, and seminars on the issue. In such a way was their response, and I was very satisfied with the response. People told me do you think abolishing capital punishment is done with just one stroke of a pen"

"They said our society, has not reached the stage, where capital punishment can be abrogated, and that other parties should abolish capital punishment, which could be applied against us in masses, and extra judicially" he elaborated.

"these were the words of the Libyan people, since I repeatedly asked for the abrogation of capital punishment, yet the Libyan people persist in rejecting the abolishing of capital punishment, because they [Libyan people] view that we have not reached such stage, and because the world lies, while it urges for abolishing of capital punishment, it daily produces atomic bombs, warplane carriers, chemical weapons, artilleries, tanks, anthrax and other germs."

In his speech the leader correlated between the abrogation of weapons manufacturing, and destruction of existing weapons on one hand and the abolishing of capital punishment on the other.

"Every day you are sharpening the knife, and manufacturing the knife to slaughter human beings, how come then you ask them to abolish capital punishment, why not you abrogate the knife, abrogate the manufacturing of the knife. Destroy all weapons so that there will be no longer any weapons in order to reach a degree of mutual trust. In such away Libya would not attack America, and America would not attack Libya. Iraq does not attack Kuwait, and Kuwait does not attack Iraq, Pakistan does not attack India and India does not attack China etc. Once we reach such a stage, and there is actual confidence, and reached such an advanced level, and the whole world reached such a degree, we will become convinced" the leader said.

"When we say in Africa for instance, there must be one African army. We proposed such a thing to the African Union to abrogate armies. Some one who does not think thoroughly he would say, how come you abolish my army, won't my African neighboring state attack me. We would say even your neighbor has no army as we asked you to disband your army, likewise your neighbor was asked to disband its army. Do not worry, so long your neighbors have no armies, there would be no army to attack you. Like wise, once you are not executing me , and abrogating the intention of executing me and execution measures against me, I would abrogate it against you, and we would have mutual trust, then the entire capital punishment could be abrogated." the leader illustrated.

The Leader urged that syllabuses of the faculty of laws in Libyan universities, and all Libyan arguments at international fora should include the assertion that the abrogation of capital punishment should not be selective, and that human blood should be equated, and human soul is protected with out discrimination between human beings, or making distinction between the means through which execution is carried out.

"We should state in the syllabuses of faculties of laws in the Jamahiriya, and in all our statements that abolishing capital punishment, should not be subject to selectivity in terms of annihilating an individual. There is no difference between a Libyan and an American, between Iranian and Indian, Pakistani and a Chinese, or between an English and a German," he said.

"The human soul is the human soul, human blood is the same human blood, the human being is the same human being, we should respect him and not to spill his blood with weapons, missiles, gallows, bullets, electric shocks, or suffocation gas. All these are means of executions. We must agree to abrogate capital punishment, and destroy all means of executions", He added.

The Leader stressed that the Almighty proscribed slaying a human life save in the course of justice. He stressed that such divine permission is with the exception of 'in the course of justice', and not with injustice and aggression, colonialism, tyranny, dictatorship, torture and persecution of people.

"It is not the right of those against whom injustice is committed to make excessive killing in the course of justice, for it is only his right to kill the killer, and not to further kill another one who is not the killer. Because the Almighty proscribed slaying human life save in the course of justice" he explained.

"Human beings are the ones who carry out bloodshed, although, the Almighty Who we worship does not permit killing and forbids slaying of the human soul save in the course of justice" he reiterated.

LIBYA: Libya's Gaddafi wants death penalty scrapped

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has called again for the death penalty to be banned in his country but stressed the decision should not result from pressure from abroad.

The end of the death penalty in Libya would spare the lives of 5 Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death last May after being found guilty of deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with the deadly HIV virus.

The European Union and the United States have joined Bulgaria in denouncing the sentences as unacceptable. Libya, which has forged closer ties with the West in the past year, had promised a quick solution to the issue.

"Cancelling the death penalty should not be the result of economic, political or security pressures like the ones piled on Turkey to win a European Union membership," Gaddafi said.

Such a decision "is linked to progress ... in society. It is one of the fruits of a civilised mind", he said in a speech to a gathering of judges, lawyers, law university teachers and students on Monday night.

Gaddafi said he had made similar pleas to the top executive and legislative body, but it had so far refused to accept them.

"I had decided to cancel that penalty but the People's Congress did not accept it because they are not convinced and also because society has yet to reach a stage of ... civilisation to ban the death penalty," he said.