vale van nguyen
firstly id like to point out that just because something is legal, does not necessarily mean that it is ethical- for example stealing Koori land in the 17th Century, genocide of Jews in WWII and holding prisoners indefinitely in Guantanamo Bay- so people who are just taking the hard line and saying "too bad he broke their law and must face the consequences of their law" don't really present a valid argument, and in any case capital punishment is not mandated by international law.
secondly. people think that this guy got sympathy because he was Australian and painted in a certain way by the media- which I concur is a fair enough point. However, this doesn't detract from the fact that he was still a human, and didn't deserve that punishment in the first place.
Somebody already posted it, but what purpose exactly does execution serve? Notice in the countries where capital punishment is enforced, the crime rates are still high...e.g. China, America, etc. The solution to the problem is in prevention, rehabilitation and education.
When somebody innocent is executed, do they have the oppotunity to clear their name?
What about the emotional, social and financial repercussions on the convicted person's family?
And doesn't this kind of attitude encourage an 'eye-for-an-eye' kind of mentality- what kind of values are we teaching our children if we enact revenge willy-nilly? That's just exchanging an evil for another evil...
Guys, please think about what the death sentence truly involves before making blanket statements such as "He deserved it cos he trafficked drugs"...