Friday, March 29, 2013

Indonesian Executions


            Mr. Adami Wilson was executed on March 14th for a drug-related offense in Indonesia. The United Nations is taking action to urge the Indonesian government to only use the death penalty how it is described in international law. The UN describes the death penalty as only to be used to punish someone for intentional killing. I personally think being executed for a drug related offense is ridiculous and serves as a warning that many more Indonesians may begin to be executed for trivial offenses such as this. Over one hundred and thirty people are believed to be on death row right now in Indonesia, and over half have also been convicted for drug related offenses. This hit home for me because I have friends who could be on death row if the United States took the death penalty as lightly as Indonesia does. If they don’t take the United Nations advice and begin to take a human’s life more seriously these executions could increase, and maybe they will also begin to execute people for more trivial offenses such as stealing.  Even prisoners have the right to life unless they have done something horrible that warrants the taking of that right. The United Nations is hoping that the government will consider a moratorium on executions. It is news such as this that makes me wish that the United Nations had more power over these situations, and instead of just trying to convince Indonesia they could actually force them to comply to international law. 

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