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Why Sri Lankans are preoccupied with the death penalty - Opi
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Post Why Sri Lankans are preoccupied with the death penalty - Opi 
khaleejtimes.com,  Mon Feb 26 22:40:39 EST 2007

    THE advocacy of capital punishment as a means of arresting the growing crime rate in Sri Lanka is gaining currency. The support for and opposition to capital punishment depends on the experience one undergoes.

Those who have not been affected by a serious crime such as murder or robbery may see capital punishment as barbaric and inhuman. But the very same person who champions the message of mercy even for a mass murderer may justify capital punishment saying it serves as a deterrent when he becomes a victim.

At the funerals of victims of criminals, the call for the imposition of death penalty is loud and clear — with indignant relatives complaining about the inadequacy of our judicial and legal systems. "We must have strict laws and capital punishment like in Middle Eastern countries," one would hear them talk.  But when four Sri Lankans were beheaded in Saudi Arabia and their bodies were publicly displayed, the uproar was universal. Condemnations came from every quarter. Saudi Arabia’s judicial system was torn to pieces. In the process, we all forgot the gravity of the crime the four Sri Lankans had committed. Actually, many in Sri Lanka still do not know why they were executed. It was only after they were executed that some background information began to trickle in — and that too from news agency reports. The reports said the four men were convicted of "forming a criminal gang which robbed a number of companies and threatened accountants and workers with weapons, shooting one of them and stealing his car".
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Since some of us managed to get the other thread closed I am writing here on a related topic. I have not been disabled (yet) and assume everything is hunkydory on my end. There ARE forum rules. And even if there weren't there are rules of common decency. Using filth, specially when discussing a matter online, is not acceptable behaviour. Now back to these executions:

Trying to lable laws in other societies "barbaric" (or their punishments) or uncivilized because they are different to our norms and beliefs displays a kind of narrowmindedness, which is not common to the average Sri Lankan. There is no basis for the allegation that the trials were prejudiced. As to the conversion to Islam, has anyone considered the possibility that this was done voluntarily hoping to get a more lenient judgement (it didn;t happen). Converting a man on death row by force seems rather far fetched, simply because he has nothing to lose. Also, forced conversion is not an Islamic norm.

As to bestiality in Islam, there are hadith that strongly condemn this (perverted) practice. Now kkk3 might want a reference and not inline with my character I will give a link http://www.quransearch.com/sex_with_animals_forbidden.htm which looks pretty convincing to me. That said, this line of attack on one of the world's major religions should be strongly discouraged. As should the attacks on other religions coming from those who try to defend themselves. Obviously to every one of us, his or her own religion is something very sacred, and some practices / sayings may not make sense to the follower of another religion. And therefore for one attacking religious principles is not likely to do any good and two, presenting "evidence" (false in this case which is far worse) to show that some religions have association with "despicable" practices also is not advisable.


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Dear Loading...,

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Now kkk3 might want a reference and not inline with my character I will give a link http://www.quransearch.com/sex_with_animals_forbidden.htm which looks pretty convincing to me.


Isn't it wonderful to see someone's argument coming out stronger, and that a small contribution you made to the process is acknowledged?

Thanks Loading.... You made my day!


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Hi kkk123

Nice to have you back. Your workload down yet?
What do you think of capital punishment in SL?


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I want to say "no comment" and get back to my work, but you have asked me a question and I will try to answer it.

What is written as the law is important. How it is administered is more important.

Capital punishment is justified as long as the process by which it is administered is absolutely fool-proof.

Was it Catherine the Great who said that she wouldn't mind even if a thousand guilty people go free as long as she didn't punish one single innocent?

And then, was it Ivan the Terrible who said that he wouldn't care even if a thousand innocents are punished as long as he wouldn't let a single guilty person go free?

If one innocent is killed due to a mistake by the justice system, it is a bigger crime than the sum of all the murders committed by all the criminals in the country.


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