ALLISTER DEFENDS RIGHT OF RECOURSE TO CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
01 February 2007
In a debate in the European Parliament, on a motion demanding a global ban on the death penalty, DUP MEP Jim Allister QC defended the right of sovereign democratic states to determine their own criminal sanctions and attacked the arrogance of the EU in seeking to dictate how such states must behave.
In the course of his remarks Jim Allister said:-
"The arrogance of this EU knows no bounds. Not satisfied with dictating to member states that they must not avail of the ultimate deterrent, the death penalty, it now wishes to dictate to the rest of the world.
Awful as the fate of the Bulgarian nurses in Libya is, and while this House should be vigorous in protesting their situation, it does not justify us demanding a global ban on the death penalty. Wrongful imprisonment is intolerable, but it doesn’t lead rational people to oppose all imprisonment. No, I say, where there is a transparently fair, human rights compliant judicial process, with a reliable appeal system, then a sovereign nation state is perfectly entitled to deploy the death penalty for capital crimes, if that is the democratically determined will of its people. They, not we, have the right to choose what is right for them."
