I read in Al Jazeera that Myanmar’s military had commuted the death sentences of 38 people as part of an amnesty for political prisoners. The decision to commute the sentences to life imprisonment was welcomed by the country’s human rights commission. Myanmar’s military, which seized power in 2021, has faced widespread opposition and protests. Last year, four political activists were executed, and there are currently 112 post-coup prisoners on death row. Human rights groups have criticized the military’s secretive courts and raised concerns about due process and fair trials.
I think capital punishment is brutal, primitive, and barbaric in our modern times unless the crime is about brutal, cruel murder or mass murder. Hanging, electric chair, poison injection for humans is so terrible and it is another form of murder.
I cannot fathom that there is still a death sentence in our times. People should sit in prison, that should be the most serious punishment. Only in some particular cases should capital punishment be allowed – just like in the cases I mentioned above.
Capital punishment is simply a form of homicide – it does not differentiate from the crime it is meant to retaliate against and, in fact, can be more severe than the offense committed. Thus, sometimes people are subjected to such extreme sentencing for crimes less serious in nature than the punishment itself.
I hope one day people will ban the death sentence. Who knows, perhaps this news is already the first step towards that world.