Conference ends with calls to abolish death penalty

AMMAN — Activists and former officials on Sunday called for the abolishment of the death penalty from the Jordanian legal textbooks.

The calls came at the conclusion of a one-day national conference on “The death penalty, a future holistic gender responsive view” that was held online via the Zoom application.

The group attending the event called for replacing the death penalty with life in prison until an inmate dies while in custody to avoid any possible error during the trial that could lead to the execution of an innocent person.

The current life in prison sentence is around 20 to 25 years.

The conference is part of a series of activities by a coalition titled “Life”, and is as well part of SIGI’s "Rule of Law and Fair Trials from a Gender Perspective Project", which seeks to oppose and reduce the implementation of the death penalty, from a gender perspective.

The project, which is being implemented by the Solidarity Is Global Institute (SIGI), is supported by the European Union.

During the final session, the participants, representing civil society, academics, lawyers and former judicial officials, called for providing better legal services for women who are standing trial for major criminal offences.

Around 20 women are awaiting execution in Jordan.

Based on the participants’ recommendations, the Life coalition decided to form a legal team to represent women who are standing trial for charges that could land them high prison punishment, including the death penalty.

“We are in the process of forming a legal team that would represent women who are being tried or investigated because on many occasions, they do not have qualified lawyers to represent them while being questioned or during the trial,” said SIGI Executive President Asma Khader.

Many families refrain from appointing good lawyers to defend their female members, but most of the time would exert their utmost efforts and resources to appoint the best legal attorneys for their male relative,” Khader said.

At the same time, Khader added, the Life coalition also plans to reach out to the families of the victims to negotiate the idea of dropping charges against women who are on death row.

“In addition to the poor legal representation for women on death row in many of the cases, their families do not take any steps to secure a legal settlement with the victim’s family, which would work to spare their lives,” Khader added.

The gathering pointed out the lack of studies that prove that “the death penalty was a deterrent factor”.

The "Life" coalition strives to build a peaceful and secure society by conducting several activities from a gender perspective, to raise awareness about this important topic and work gradually to decrease the offences that are punishable by death, according to the group.

“We urge anyone who believes in the right of life for all and is against the death penalty to join our coalition,” Khader announced during the event.