BAHAMAS: DPM SAYS DEATH PENALTY MORATORIUM WOULD BE INAPPROPRIATE

it would have been inappropriate for the Bahamas to vote in support of a United Nations moratorium on the death penalty, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Brent Symonette. Ninety-nine countries voted in favour of the moratorium, 52 against it and 33 abstained. The Bahamas was among those countries that denounced the resolution, indicating that the matter was an internal one. "In the Bahamas, the death penalty is still on the law books," the minister noted. "It’s the subject of much public discussion and also discussion in the courts. In view of that background, it would have been inappropriate for the Bahamas to agree to the resolution without having committed ourselves to major changes in our law, and hence our point of view that we had to vote against the abolition of the death sentence." Minister Symonette said the Bahamas ought to seriously examine whether the death penalty is a suitable sentence and decide how to move forward. He said the question of what is meant by life imprisonment also needs to be addressed, as it is a matter now that keeps coming up in the courts. "I think we have to wait and see how that plays out, but I don’t see any change in the death penalty in the near future," the deputy prime minister said. "My personal view is that I quite support the death penalty remaining the law."