Gulf Times – Italy will seek world-wide ban on death penalty

For the full report in the Gulf Times click on this linkItaly will seek world-wide ban on death penalty

Italy will campaign at the UN for a global ban on the death penalty, Prime Minister Romano Prodi said yesterday, after graphic images of Saddam Hussain’s hanging shocked people around the world. Italian politicians of all political parties expressed disgust at Saddam’s execution, with even former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi calling it a "political and historic error".

Pressured by a week-long hunger strike by a 76-year-old campaigner against Saddam’s execution and the death penalty in general, Prodi said Italy would push the UN for a "universal moratorium" on capital punishment.