Syrian Federation calls for abolition of Death Penalty

The Syrian Federation of Human Rights Organizations and Bodies issued a rights report today ahead of the World Day Against the Death Penalty, observed on October 10. The report stated:

“The death penalty is an extremely cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment that violates human dignity. It is retaliatory and unjust, and irreversible once carried out. It can be imposed on innocent people or for political reasons. Throughout the history of human development, it has not been shown to act as a deterrent against crime or to be more effective than other forms of punishment.

“The struggle of many people against the death penalty, which amounts to state-sanctioned killing, strengthens their rejection of killing and violence. If the purpose of punishment is generally to prevent the repetition of the act for which it was imposed and to serve as a deterrent, it is clear that the death penalty, in its various applications in countries where it remains legal, has failed to achieve this purpose.

“The death penalty has not served as an effective tool or means of deterring the repetition of acts that warrant such a sentence. Although it has historically been justified as a means of preventing crime and deterring its recurrence, its various applications in countries where it remains legal have failed to achieve that objective.

“The expansion of the use of the death penalty has also failed to reduce waves of crime, which have become increasingly serious with the development of modern technologies that have created opportunities for organized, cross-border crimes such as human trafficking, drug trafficking and the expansion of terrorism.

“The extent of the injustice caused by taking a person’s life cannot be determined if it later emerges that the executed person was innocent or did not deserve such a severe punishment. Authoritarian political authorities have used the death penalty as a tool of repression to silence their opponents and physically eliminate their most active and troublesome members.

“The policy of physical elimination through field and exceptional trials adopted by numerous military governments in Third World countries during the 1970s and 1980s represented the height of this practice. Victims of such policies were executed following unfair trials, and it may later be possible to restore their reputations on the basis that they—or some of them—were innocent.

“This demonstrates that the abusive use of the death penalty as a tool of political repression will continue unless collective efforts are made to put an end to this threat and work toward the complete and final abolition of this inhumane punishment.”

I. Preamble and Occasion

The Syrian Federation of Human Rights Organizations and Bodies, alongside the global human rights movement, marks the World Day Against the Death Penalty on October 10, established by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty in 2003. This year’s observance comes at a critical juncture for Syria, requiring a fundamental reconsideration of the entire punitive system.

II. Legal and Human Rights Basis for Our Demand

Our call for the abolition of the death penalty rests on strong national and international legal grounds:

1. Internationally: The right to life is an inherent and inalienable right guaranteed by Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Syria acceded in 1969. The latter limits the death penalty, where it exists, to the narrowest circumstances and considers its abolition an objective to be pursued, as further affirmed by the Second Optional Protocol to the Covenant.

2. Nationally: Maintaining the death penalty in Syrian legislation contradicts the new constitutional principles, which should be based on respect for human dignity. Current Syrian law provides for the death penalty in more than 21 cases, including Articles 271, 272, 274, 298, 305 and 308 of the General Penal Code, as well as Articles 5, 6 and 8 of the Counter-Terrorism Law No. 19 of 2012. This represents a dangerous legislative expansion that has turned political offenses into crimes punishable by death.

III. Why Should it be Abolished in Syria Today?

For decades, the death penalty in Syria has been used outside the framework of justice through exceptional, field and military courts that lacked the most basic fair-trial guarantees stipulated under Article 14 of the International Covenant. Our organizations have documented thousands of cases in which death sentences were issued on the basis of confessions extracted under torture.

From both practical and legal perspectives, the deterrence argument has been disproven. No reliable scientific study has demonstrated that countries applying the death penalty have lower crime rates. On the contrary, it is an irreversible punishment that turns judicial error into a state crime that cannot be remedied.

Abolishing the death penalty today is not merely a human rights demand; it is an essential part of the transitional justice process and a clear message that a new Syria is breaking with the legacy of retaliatory punishment and moving toward a form of justice that seeks to reform and rehabilitate.

IV. Our Demands

Accordingly, the Syrian Federation of Human Rights Organizations and Bodies calls on the Syrian government, the legislative authority and Syrian public opinion to take the following steps:

To the Syrian government and legislative authorities:

-          Issue an immediate decree suspending the implementation of all existing death sentences and the legal provisions governing them, and commute them to fixed-term prison sentences.

-          Issue a judicial directive prohibiting criminal and military courts from issuing any new death sentences.

-          Explicitly state in the new Syrian Constitution: “The right to life is protected, and no person may be sentenced to or executed by the death penalty.”

-          Begin comprehensive legislative reform to abolish the death penalty from the Penal Code, Counter-Terrorism Law and all special laws.

-          Ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and vote in favor of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 77/222, which calls for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

To Syrian public opinion and civil society organizations:

We call for a calm and responsible national debate on the death penalty, away from the logic of revenge and retaliation, and for recognition that genuine justice cannot be built on taking lives. Rather, it must ensure justice for victims and hold perpetrators accountable through fair trials that respect the human dignity of all.

“Protecting society does not require killing; it requires the rule of law.”

ANHA