Salut! is opposed to capital punishment. No qualifications, no unlesses.
We - by which is meant I - would not have hanged Saddam or butchered his half-brother, or executed Nazi war criminals or, indeed, sent Ian Huntley, Ian Brady and numerous other vile murderers to the gallows. We feel disgust at the barbaric use of the death penalty in such countries as Iran but also when supposedly more civilised nations kill people for crimes committed as juveniles or lunatics.
So sadness as well as complete disagreement are the only proper responses to the sentences of death handed out to French, Dutch and Chinese nationals for their roles in producing ecstasy in Indonesia.
I am not especially concerned with the detail of each individual's case, for the simple reason that I have no means of testing it. For example, the claim of the Frenchman, Serge Areski Atlaoui, is that he did not merit the most severe punishment because he had carried out only menial maintenance at the drug factory.
My opposition is on the principle. But the mind does boggle at the mentality of people who get involved in any level of seriously criminal conduct in a part of the world where only an idiot is unaware of the stakes.
The don'ts are straightforward enough, provided you are not just unlucky enough to be a powerless citizen with no realistic means of avoiding cruel and unjust penal systems:
* Don't embark on a career in drug smuggling (on however limited or "social" a level), whatever the temptations, if you think somewhere like Thailand or Indonesia may be interesting places to live or visit.
* Don't steal a slice of pizza or bar of chocolate in, for the sake of argument, Texas, if you're already done something like it before and risk being treated as a habitual offender.
* Don't set up an illegal alcohol making operation on Saudi Arabia, or offend other harsh local laws on adultery and suchlike, unless the idea of 800 lashes appeals. Similarly don't spray paint over other people's cars in Singapore if you don't want to be be caned very hard indeed.
I am sure readers could, if they wish, add a few don'ts of their own.
And I hope Serge's sentence is reduced, along with those of his co-accused. If they are not, and these unfortunate if stupid and/or greedy people die, we can hope only that their deaths discourage others from following their example.
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