The Mauritian branch of Amnesty International (AI) has petitioned Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam demanding the scrapping of the death penalty in the island nation.
The group is also calling for the ratification of the second protocol of the UN-initiated International Pact on Civil and Political Rights in a bid to better implement the abolition.
"The death penalty is an act of vengeance that cannot be inscribed in a process of justice," the rights body said in a statement issued here Saturday.
"It (death penalty) is vain and not dissuasive," it said.
The death penalty, which was last enforced in 1989 in connection with a murder, is now on hold in Mauritius.
As my son was born in Mauritius in 1988 it is a place close to my heart. Since gaining Independence from Britain it has been a bastion of democracy in an ocean of repressive regimes and neo-colonial enclaves. Hopefully, Mauritius will again demonstrate it leads rather than follows in this crucial field of human rights...
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