In November, the Syrian representative, speaking at...

In November, the Syrian representative, speaking at the Third Committee of the General Assembly, affirmed: "The real issue is not whether the death penalty should or should not be applied, but rather each country's sovereign right to choose its own political, legal, social and cultural system. Asking a State not to apply the death penalty means asking it to change its specific historical, cultural, religious and political characteristics. The capital punishment debate focuses on preserving the human dignity of condemned prisoners, while completely denying the victim's family this human dignity and also their rights, when there is all the more reason for the latter to obtain justice."