"This criminal deserves the death penalty, the highest punishment, Execution, execution, we demand execution."

Abdul Aziz al Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, and head of the ruling Shia alliance, praised the verdict and urged Iraqis to unite: "I hope the verdict will bring closure to this tragic and brutal episode in Iraqi history. We must never forget and we must always be vigilant never to let tyranny rise here in Iraq ever again - but it's time to move on."

31 July 2006: Baghdad - Leader of the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, the majority bloc in parliament, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, called on judicial authorities Monday to expedite the issuing of a ruling stipulating a death sentence for former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein if he's found guilty.

'We call on the judicial authorities to fulfil its role in issuing fair rulings against all those indicted for war crimes against the innocent Iraqis and expedite sentencing Saddam Hussein to death,' al-Hakim said, speaking to an audience of his followers commemorating the third anniversary of the killing of his brother, the Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim.

On Tuesday 13 November 2012, the draft law was cleared during the Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace.

Shaikh Mohammad ordered that the law be named Wudeema’s Law in reference to the eight-year-old girl who was allegedly murdered by her father and buried in the desert.

“Every child has a right to have a safe life, constant care, and emotional and psychological stability. There will be no leniency with people who violate the rights of children — they are the future,” Shaikh Mohammad said.

The justice handed out to him is a response to the call from thousands of sons and sisters of those sentenced and executed by Saddam... Maybe this will help alleviate the pain of the widows and the orphans and those who have been ordered to bury their loved ones in secrecy, and those who have been forced to suppress their feelings and suffering, and those who have paid at the hands of torturers, and those who have been deprived of the basic human rights, like education and profession.

"Your generous and pure land has got rid - and for ever - of the filth of the dictator and a black page of Iraq's history has been turned and the tyrant has died."

8 September 2006 - An Iraqi Justice Ministry official said two of those hanged had been convicted of terrorism charges, and the other 25 – including a woman – were convicted of murder and kidnap.

News of the executions was made public by Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, when he attended a ceremony to mark the transfer of control of Iraq's military from the United States to the recently elected government.

"This is the message I have for the terrorists," he said of the hanged prisoners, "we will see that you get great punishment wherever you are. There is nothing for you but prison and punishment."

"This is the day that the Iraqis have been waiting for. There are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of families who have lost their dear ones. They have been waiting for justice to be executed, and I think that Iraqis have received the news that they've been waiting for too many years."

Tuesday 11 September 2012 - Sanneh, a former Health, Social Welfare and Women's Affairs minister during the Transition, emphatically stated that those executed were "killed by the constitution and not President Jammeh." She pointed out that Gambians are killed in other countries, but was quick to assert that there was never a time that she remembers the citizens making it as an issue due to what she called their belief in God that everything that happens is destiny.

"We leave such issues with our diplomatic channels to settle. The Gambia does not interfere with the laws of other countries. Though we are very small, but we are an independent country and a Republic with a constitution and institutions. I can remember that all the constitutions that we ever had, have death penalty. There was not a given time when Gambians come together to discuss about the constitution and say we want to take out the death penalty.

What I want to assert is that the whole country made the constitution through a referendum. Prior to that, Gambians were well sensitised about the constitution, which was translated into most of the local languages for understanding, thus giving chance to the people to debate on it. But there was no resistance from any corner that we should remove the death penalty," Sanneh, who was also nominated into the National Assembly by the governing Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction party, after the 2002 National Assembly elections, stated.

"What President Jammeh is doing," she told the Daily Observer, "is to safeguard the lives of Gambians and non-Gambians alike who reside in the country." She affirmed that those executed were found guilty, given the chance to appeal, but noted that the law still found them guilty and that the constitution says they should be killed. She stressed the need for people to stop blaming President Jammeh as it is the law that killed them and not him. If somebody is killed by someone else, Gambians are God fearing enough and law abiding that they don't retaliate, but leave the law to takes its course, and whatever it decides, it is taken whole heartedly. There was no time that the law while taking its course, relatives of the victim took the law into their hands," she said.

The former lawmaker also lashes out at the Western critics, calling them to respect Gambia's sovereignty and its laws. She told them that the country has been a peaceful country from time immemorial, and has endured a lot of challenges during and after the end of colonialism. She hastened to expose the colonial hardships meted out on Gambians during those days despite citizens being patient with the imperialists.

Nyimasata Sanneh-Bojang concluded by asserting that Gambians are behind President Jammeh and his government along the way, saying they will remain resolute in the cause of defending the country.

Tuesday 29 March 2011 - Parliament's Constitution Commission head Burhan Kuzu of the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, said he personally always defended the existence of such a punishment like the death penalty.

“If you ask my personal view on the issue, I always defended the existence of capital punishment. It remains [as an alternative] whether you apply it or not,” Kuzu told reporters Tuesday.

TOP community figures yesterday backed urgently passed laws that could see people convicted of carrying out fatal bomb attacks given the death penalty.

The punishment was included in two decrees issued by His Majesty King Hamad on Wednesday 31 July 2013 in an attempt to reduce growing levels of street violence.

They state anyone convicted of causing injury as a result of bombings or attempting to carry them out will also be jailed for no less than 10 years.

People caught collecting money for terrorist acts face a minimum 10-year sentence and up to life in prison and fines ranging from BD100,000 to BD500,000.

The Public Prosecution will also have the right to inspect bank accounts related to individuals or groups involved in terrorist acts.

Citizenship can be revoked from anyone involved in acts of terrorism, but only when the decision has been ratified by King Hamad.

The new laws follow the passing of 22 recommendations aimed at combating terrorism during a rare extraordinary National Assembly session last Sunday.

Shura Council foreign affairs, defence and national security committee chairman Dr Shaikh Khalid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa believes the new decrees will act as a strong deterrent.

"Imposing the death sentence on merciless terrorists is a good approach to return the rights of victims who have been unjustly killed," he said.

"There is no debate about the death penalty and Islam is clear - kill and get killed.

"Those terrorists have no remorse and disregard human lives so why should they be treated softly?"

Tuesday 29 March 2011 - Great Union Party, or BBP, leader Yalçın Topçu called Tuesday for the reinstatement of capital punishment for those involved in immoral and separatist terrorist activities, also launching a signature campaign in Ankara on the issue.

“We address Parliament: You abolished capital punishment. You created such a brutal atmosphere with your own hands. You couldn’t get out of the imagination tunnel called the European Union. You hold referendums at will. You should also ask the public for their opinion on this issue,” Topçu said.

Rached Ghannouchi, the head of Tunisia's ruling Islamist party, said he backs the application of the death penalty, describing it as a "natural law" in a television interview to be broadcast Monday evening.

"We say that capital punishment is a natural law, a soul for a soul. And whoever threatens the life of another must know that his life is also threatened," the Ennahda party's veteran chief told news channel France 24.

He was asked in particular about the punishment of rapists, after a number of incidents in Tunisia, including the case of a three-year-old girl repeatedly raped by the caretaker of a children's nursery, which has caused shock and anger.

"This crime must be sanctioned in the severest possible way and I would even say yes, by capital punishment," Ghannouchi said.

"Rape is like a death sentence for a woman and for the entire family."

Under Tunisia's penal code, rape, murder, acts of terrorism and plotting against the state are punishable by death, but in practice no executions have been carried out in Tunisia since 1991.

Monday 12 November 2012 - Political parties are divided over the issue of converting death penalties to life terms.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl :

Referring to the shariah law, JUI-F leader Senator Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri said: “There already is a law in the field; therefore, there is no need for new legislation.” When asked his party’s position in case a bill is introduced that converts the death penalty into life imprisonment, he said: “We will not accept the bill and use all our strength against it.”

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz:

Deputy Secretary General PML-N Ahsan Iqbal said his party would strongly oppose if such a bill is introduced in parliament. “It is like giving a license to criminals to kill people, and get away with it,” Iqbal said, adding that globally, the death penalty has proven to be a deterrent against heinous crimes.

“It looks like there are some people within the government who fear their own misdeeds, and have come up with a plan to convert the death penalty into life imprisonment,” he said. Instead of such legislation, we need an effective justice system, he added.

Jamat-e-Islami:

JI leader Liaqat Baloch said the proposal to abolish the death penalty has been under discussion for a while but that his party does not support the idea.

He said that under Islamic law there already is an option for the aggrieved family to pardon an offender on death row. “[Converting the death penalty to life imprisonment] is like giving protection to [a] terrorist,” he said, adding that his party will oppose the bill if introduced in parliament. At present, the JI has no representation in either houses of parliament.

Tuesday 14 December 2010: Speaking at a news conference about anti-terrorism measures, Bolani said Iraqi courts had convicted 14,500 people for such offences, with an unspecified number serving life sentences in addition to those due to be executed.

"The government is keen on providing justice," he said, noting "14,500 criminals have been convicted, with 835 receiving death sentences and others life imprisonment."

Saturday 18 August 2012 - Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has announced his government plan to carry out death sentence in mid- September to curb crimes and terrorism looming as a threat to the West African country.

President Jammeh made the announcement to the nation on Saturday night.

"All punishment prescribed by the law will maintain in the country to ensure that criminals get what they deserve, that is, those who killed are killed and those who deserve to be put away from the society are put away from the society in accordance with the law," he said.

"There is no way that my government would allow 99 percent of the population to be held to ransom by criminals," the president told his fellow countrymen.

There have been reports of an escalation of dreadful crimes such as murder, armed robbery, burglary and kidnapping.

"Our objective is to create a peaceful, happy and crime free nation, where the standard of living will be excellent for all citizens," the president pledged.

He vowed to boost the security force and the judiciary system so that all serious crimes will face the full force of law.

"My government will take whatever legal action is necessary to expunge these deadly and heinous acts from the country."

President Yahya Jammeh of the Gambia has given the strongest hint yet that his government is prepared to repeal the country's controversial death penalty laws.

Mr Jammeh who has already announced suspension of all executions of death row inmates, said changes to the capital punishment laws in the country’s constitution will only be made when the Gambian people express a desire for him to repeal the law and not through international pressure and condemnation.

“I am working for you and I’ll live for you and die for you,” Mr Jammeh told a group of youth in his native village, Kanilai, some 43 kilometres away from the capital, Banjul where he is on his annual leave.

“I will not succumb to human pressure to change the death penalty, no way, but if you the Gambian people plead with me to halt the executions, I will suspend it because whatever I do, I do it for your interest. If you Gambians want the death penalty to be removed from the constitution, it will be removed.”

Mr Jammeh added:  “The death penalty has nothing to do with politics. If I am to sign 10, 000 death warrants to save 1.6 million Gambians, I will do it. If any country has a citizen in the Gambia and do not want them to face the firing squad, let them not kill any person in the Gambia. I am not a colony of European Union and I am nobody’s colony.”

President Yahya Jammeh of the Gambia has used his New Year message (Tuesday 1 January 2013) to defend the execution of nine death row prisoners in the country.

Mr Jammeh said the execution last summer of the death row prisoners including a Senegalese lady was based on the provisions of the Gambian constitution. He warned that in fostering peace and stability in the country, his Government will ‘never compromise’ with ‘criminals’ whose main intention is to stall the country’s progresses.

“When we carried out those executions, we acted within the confines of our national laws, and in accordance with our commitment to the rule of law,” Mr Jammeh said.

He added: “As a nation, we denounce violence in all its forms, and my Government will always maintain zero tolerance for violence, anarchy, murder, rape, drugs, corruption and sadistic criminal disguised in any religion to slaughter innocent people under the name of any cult – I call it cult because none of the main religions Allah’s prophets enjoined any act of violence and mass murder in pursuit of establishing or expanding such a religion.”

Mr Jammeh accused his critics and opponents of ‘hypocritically’ and unnecessarily blowing the executions out of proportion.

Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) has proposed an amendment to the Clemency Act (Act no 2/2010) which would make performing the death penalty mandatory in the event it was upheld by the Supreme Court.

The amendment was submitted by PPM MP Ahmed Mahloof, the third MP to submit an amendment to put the death penalty into practice.

Mahloof’s amendment would require the President to enforce any death penalty if the Supreme Court issues the verdict of death, or if the Supreme Court supports the ruling of the death penalty made by either the Criminal court or the High Court. The move would halt the current practice of the President commuting such sentences to life imprisonment.

Mahloof, in a press conference held in his party headquarters on Monday 9 April 2012, stated that he had proposed the amendment in an effort to stop crimes of murder and violence.

He claimed people were of the view that if death penalty or capital punishment is enforced it would bring down crime, and that he had decided to propose the amendment in consultation with several people including fellow parliamentarians.

“I believe nobody would want to die. So if the death penalty is enforced, a person who is to commit a murder would clearly know that if he carries out the act, his punishment would be his life. I believe this will deter him from committing such acts,” Mahloof said.

Saturday 15 October 2011 - The execution of eight Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia was not illogical because the punishment was awarded through legal and judicial process, said Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quayes.

He said the eight Bangladeshis were executed because they committed such a crime which deserves death sentence. "They [Bangladeshis] killed a citizen of another country and thus they were executed upon completion of a judicial process," he said at a regular press briefing at the foreign ministry yesterday.

The eight Bangladeshis were not killed in Saudi Arabia, he added.

"If we believe in the rule of law, we then must accept the trial of Saudi Arabia. We may have difference in opinion about the process of death penalty, but there is no way to disagree with the trial," the foreign secretary said.

Wednesday 21 November 2012 - Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan says India has set an example of the rule of law through the trial and execution of 26/11 convict Ajmal Kasab when even the United States never tried Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden for the 9/11 attacks.

"The majesty of the Indian justice system has been upheld. We have done better than the Americans, who could not try Osama bin Laden and had to liquidate him. But we went through the due process of law," Mr Chavan told NDTV.

The parliamentary committee on security and defence supports the death penalty for similar reasons. “Abandoning capital punishment will create tensions and negatively impact on the stability and security of the country,” MP and committee member, Qasim al-Araji, said. [Thursday 12 April 2012]

The Iraqi government justifies the executions by arguing that only the death penalty can deter terrorist acts. And somewhat unusually, this sentiment is iterated by the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights. According to a Ministry spokesperson, Kamil Amin, death by hanging is suitable as long as there has been a fair trial. 

“The Iraqi justice system is dealing with major crimes that have resulted in many victims and the death penalty is often the minimum price, one that deters the criminals and satisfies the victims,” Amin explained. Capital punishment, he said, was “overwhelmingly popular”. [Thursday 12 April 2012] 

In general public sentiment does seem to indicate that, outside of some human rights groups in the country, Iraqis are not overly opposed to capital punishment. As one state adviser told news weekly Time in 2005 when capital punishment was re-introduced in Iraq after that temporary suspension: “from the Iraqi point of view, they [the people] don't like to see a lot of people get killed every day and have a low number of executions”.  

“Parliament cannot ignore the blood of Iraqi people killed in terrorist attacks around the country,” MP Abdul Mahdi Al-Khafaji, a member of the parliamentary committee on human rights, said. “And criticism from international organizations, as well as their demands that capital punishment be abolished, is unjustified – particularly as long as the security situation remains so unstable in Iraq.”

Since 2003, al-Khafaji explains, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed by terrorists. “It’s difficult to persuade people who have suffered in this way to give up their rights to call for the death penalty,” he argued. [Thursday 12 April 2012]

Friday 9 November 2012 - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the prison sentence given to Norwegian mass murderer Andres Breivik was not enough, daily Hurriyet has reported.

Erdoğan said the criminal should have been given the death penalty instead to ensure peace for the victims' family.

"I asked them, I was curious. How can someone who has killed 77 people be sentenced to 21 years in prison? I was told that he will not be out again, that something would be found at the end of the 21 years to keep him in for another 21 years," Erdoğan said.

"But how can I be sure of that?" Erdoğan asked. "Yes, the death penalty was removed from Europe, but has it left America, Japan and China? Then there is a justified cause for the death penalty to remain."

"I don't believe that [the victims' families] are in peace when someone who murdered 77 people can just walk around freely," Erdoğan said. "We have to re-check ourselves. We have to put ourselves on the scale of justice again, so that humanity could find peace." 

“The international community does not only consist of the EU. Capital punishment exists in the U.S., China, Russia and Japan,” said Erdoğan in remarks published on Nov. 11, 2012.

“Not regarding political crimes, it could be possible to discuss capital punishment within the context of terror and causing death,” he added.

"By punishing the killers, we want to establish that one has to face punishment if one commits any injustice." [Tuesday 18 October 2011]