Renowned international, anti-capital punishment advocate...

Renowned international, anti-capital punishment advocate Roger G. Hood warned that executing ousted President Joseph Estrada would make him a martyr. Estrada could face execution by lethal injection if he is convicted of plunder and sentenced to death.
Hood, an Oxford Professor who was invited to speak about the capital punishment in the Philippines Congress, said this had been Britain's experience in its long years of conflict with the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
"We have a long history of terrorism, but no one called for the re-imposition of the death penalty because this creates martyrs (out of IRA leaders)," Hood said in a press briefing.Britain abolished the death penalty in 1965.
Hood, who's a consultant on the death penalty to the United Nations and a member of the British foreign secretary's death penalty panel, debunked the arguments of pro-death penalty proponents that capital punishment is the ultimate deterrence to crime."What is more important is the certainty of punishment," he said.
Hood was invited by the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) to generate enlightened debates before the House panels on the revision of laws and civil, political and human rights, which are now tackling several bills seeking the abolition of the death penalty law including others that call for the expansion of its coverage.
Hood said justice could still be served if Estrada is meted out due punishment other than death."I think the Philippine public should understand that rarely are heads of state executed," he said, responding to comments that many Filipinos want to retain capital punishment solely for the purpose of executing Estrada, if found guilty.
Hood pointed to an increasing trend among countries in the world to abolish capital punishment. The death penalty has been abolished in all the countries of Europe.