27 January 2010

The execution of Ali Hassan al-Majeed

From the news BBC radio reports that I have heard, and the BBC website reports I have read, Ali Hassan al-Majeed, popularly known in the West as 'Chemical Ali', was a man with brutal values who acted on those values, resulting in the death of many thousands of people. In particular, he directed the persecution of Kurdish population in northern Iraq, the most celebrated attack being at Halabja in which 5,000 people died from the mustard gas attack he ordered. He also organised the crushing of Shi'ite communities after Iraq's war with Iran, and again after the First Gulf War (George Bush senior). For these war crimes he was sentenced to death on four counts. In addition, he co-ordinated the killing of less-than-loyal members of Saddam Husein's immediate family, of which he was also a member. It is difficult to imagine a man who, in the eyes of the world, more deserved to be executed for his crimes. Ali Hassan al-Majeed was executed by Iraqi authorities on Monday 25 January 2010.

I remain resolute in my belief that killing is wrong. The execution of this man not only enacts the belief that some people do not deserve to live, but also that I have - someone has - the moral right to determine the ending of a person's life. I do not have that right, and no-one should have that right other than the person themselves. I believe that, in its pre-meditation, execution is a morally worse act than accidental killing, say, in the commission of a robbery.

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