Jaffna Catholic Lawyers urge Prez Drop death penalty stance

By S.S. Selvanayagam   

The Jaffna Diocesan Catholic Lawyers Association (JDCLA) in a memorandum submitted to the President to drop his decision to re-implement the death penalty, instead of effecting a series of strong and long term policies, aimed at addressing serious crimes including drug trafficking.  

The JDCLA President M. Jude Dinesh and Secretary Stanislaus Celestine in the memorandum have urged the President to ratify and adopt the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.   

They brought to the cognizance of the statement highlighted by the Pope on February 27, 2019 at the World Congress Against the Death Penalty.   The Pope in his statement has claimed the death penalty was a cruel violation of the basic right to life and robbed people of the chance to repent and make amends for the crimes they had committed, they drew attention.   
They contended the church taught, in the light of the Gospel, that ‘the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person’.   
The Pope has also pronounced that the right to life is “the source of all gifts and of all other rights” that must be protected.   

JDCLA urged therefore, the death penalty is a serious violation of the right to life of every person.