LOC21:57
18:57 GMT
ALGIERS, Feb 28 (KUNA) -- The Algerian Movement for the Society of Peace
(MSP), a ruling coalition partner, denounced on Sunday the anti-capital
punishment campaign of the National Consultative Commission on the Promotion
and Protection of Human Rights (NCCPPHR).
"The Algerian authorities have already made an anti-capital punishment
decision which runs counter to the principles of Sharia (Islamic Law) and
Algeria Constitution," the MSP said in a statement here.
"The movement sticks to the punishment because; firstly it (the capital
punishment) is legitimate under Sharia, and secondly there are capital crimes
such as premeditated murder and narcotics trade, that necessitate capital
punishment," according to the statement.
The movement urged involving all political, judiciary, legal and civil
society institutions in the decision-making in this regard.
Meanwhile, NCCPPHR's Chairman of Mustafa Farouk Ksentini said his
commission has outlined its demands in consultation with several local and
foreign human rights activists at the 4th World Congress Against the Death
Penalty.
The three-day conference which came to a close in Geneva on Friday, reached
agreement on statute on human rights which will be signed by the member states
of the coalition, Ksentini, who represented Algeria at the conference, told
Algeria Radio on Saturday.
He added that his commission, an affiliate of the Algerian presidential
office, is lobbying for the abolition of the capital punishment but has no
mandate to abolish it. (end)
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