<p>Well you can’t argue facts with an Imam, can you?&nbsp;</p> <p>There’s no need to worry about crime in Saudi Arabia, he said, and he’s been there.&nbsp; Women don’t go in fear of rape because they have the death penalty for it.&nbsp; And that is Sharia law, the law of God, which cannot be changed by man.&nbsp; So that’s alright then.</p>

<div><span>Whenever the death penalty issue has arisen, arguments are automatically sparked as the issue is highly controversial. The victims and families probably want the offenders to receive the punishment they thought they deserved, whereas some would argue that the offenders might never truly plead guilty for the crimes they have caused. </span></div>

<p><span>Prachatai reports on the 5th World Congress Against the Death Penalty which took place in Madrid during June 12-15, 2013. The congress aimed to bring together intergovernmental, governmental and civil society leaders to come up with strategies for universal abolition of the death penalty. The congress was organized by Together Against the Death Penalty with sponsorship from the Spanish, Norwegian, French and Swiss governments.</span></p> <p></p>

<p>The 5^th World Congress against the Death Penalty took place in Madrid, Spain, last week with over 1,500 participants from 90 countries.&nbsp; Government representatives, intergovernmental organizations and civil society leaders came together to contribute to one of the biggest abolitionist movements in the world aiming for one goal – the universal abolition of the death penalty.</p> <p></p>

<p>Paris, 29 March 2012. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (WCADP) express their outrage at the hanging of three inmates this morning in prisons in Tokyo, Hiroshima and Fukuoka. These executions are the first since July 2010 and occurred less than three months after the new Justice Minister Toshio Ogawa took office. The year 2011 had been the first without any execution since 1993.</p>

<p><b>The 9th World Day against the Death Penalty will focus on the inhumanity of the death penalty. Since 2003, abolitionists have taken actions all over the world every 10 October to raise awareness and opposition to the death penalty. This year, to mark the World Day against the Death Penalty, hundreds of events have been organized around the globe. To see the complete program of scheduled events, visit: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.worldcoalition.org/worldday">www.worldcoalition.org/<wbr></wbr>worldday</a></b></p>

<p>KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia &ndash; Human rights activists in Kuala Lumpur have produced a play that takes a hard look at the death penalty, taking off from the story of a young Malaysian sentenced to hang in Singapore.</p>

<p>As country after country abandons its use of judicial state killing, Amnesty International deeply regrets the resumption of executions in Thailand after a six-year hiatus.</p>