The ACIJLP organizes the 7th regional Workshop on "The Role of Judges, Public Prosecutors and Lawyers on Reducing the Application of the Death Penalty in the Arab States"

 

Cairo, 27^th December 2012

Press Release

 

The ACIJLP organizes the 7^th regional Workshop on "The Role of Judges, Public Prosecutors and Lawyers on Reducing the Application of the Death Penalty in the Arab States"

 

The Arab Center for the Independence of Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP) in cooperation with Sisterhood Is Global Institute/Jordan organizes the 7^th regional workshop on "The Role of Judges, Public Prosecutors and Lawyers on Reducing the Application of the Death Penalty in the Arab States". The workshop will continue throughout the period (29^th- 31^st) December 2012 in Oman the capital of Jordon. Many judges, lawyers, law professors and activists in the field of human rights from different Arab countries (Syria - Jordan - Palestine - Libya – Yemen- Sudan- Egypt) as well as the heads and coordinators of coalitions against the death penalty will participate in the workshop.

The Workshop will address international conventions and commitments to protect the right to life such as the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the principles of effective Prohibitions and Investigation of extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions and safeguards to ensure the protection of those facing the death penalty as well as the status of the death penalty in Arab States. The workshop will also discuss the stance towards the ratification and accession to relevant convention and covenants, the stance of Islamic law on reducing the application of the death penalty, proposals for gradual abolition of the death penalty and alternative penalties to the death penalty in the Arab states.  in addition to forming working groups on the agreement of national legislation with international conventions, the impact of the extravagance use of penal legislation and national penal procedures in the application of the death penalty, customs and local traditions, the right of defense, the second degree of litigation and appeals against sentences.

The workshop aims to activate the role of the legal professions such as the judges, law professors and lawyers on reducing the application of the death penalty in the Arab States, in addition to activating the role of judicial institutions and Arab human rights organizations in disseminating the culture of tolerance, anti-violence and reducing the application of the death penalty.  The workshop also aims at finding alternatives penalties to the death penalty, commitment to standards and controls that must be adhered to when applying the death penalty, the observance of internationally recognized safeguards on the protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty and harmonizing national legislation with international conventions and commitments relevant to human rights, particularly the right to life and fair trial.

This is the 7^th workshop which comes within the framework of the ACIJLP’s activities on the project “Reducing the application of the Death Penalty in the Arab States” which will continue throughout 2013, with financial support from the European Union, and includes a number of conferences, workshops, seminars, relevant research papers and training courses relevant to the reduction and abolition of the Death Penalty in the national Arab legislations .