Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Friday he would not consider the death penalty for Australia, which he believed is not a deterrent to major crimes.
While clarifying his strong comments on Thursday about the convicted Bali bomber Amrozi, on death row for his part in the October 2002 terrorist killing of 202 people, 88 of them Australians. Rudd said he did not mean to endorse the death penalty for Australia.
Rudd said on Thursday Amrozi deserved the justice that was delivered to him, as he was a murderer.
But Rudd told the Fairfax Radio Network on Friday that, "I went on to say that they deserve the justice that they will get, by which I mean, consistent with the Indonesian judicial system."
"How that pans out in the end is a matter for the Indonesians. Our position as you know, has always been one, as a matter of general policy, of opposition to the death penalty," Rudd said.
"We also have said that we intervene in the case of individual Australians who are convicted with capital offences abroad and that's been a bipartisan policy years old."
Rudd said he personally objected to the death penalty because he did not believe it was a deterrent.
"When it comes to the death penalty in this country, I have never accepted the argument that it represents the position of a deterrent of itself," he said.
Source:Xinhua
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