From my limmited knowledge of Islamic Jurisprudence, only adultry (extra marital fornication) is punishiable by death as a matter of mandatory law i.e. without discretion in law I guess you'd say its a strict liability crime, if the elements of the crime are proven it has a mandatory sentence. Aside from the Hudud crimes, punishments are derived through the Quran, the Sunna, Ijtihad (closed in sunni islam) and analogy. Death penalty is not illigal in islam, certain types of property crimes as in violent robbery (as in from the person) can also be punished by severe amputations of multiple limbs and in some cases death by crucifiction (but again since islamic jurisprudence allows reasoning by analogy crucifixtion isn't used in any legal system that I am aware of) A site through USC law school offers a fairly nice description of the mechanics of islamic Jurispruence and a searchable Quran for anyone who wants to look into this in depth. www.usc.edu

to a capital well, the point is, there is no 'appeals' process in islam. the one to appeal to, if ever, is Allah. so if there is a higher court to appeal to, it must be a civil court, as i dont know that shariah has a multi-level court sys.

but in islam, there is no death punishment unless there are witnesses or a confession. re: confession, we are not to confess against ourselves, which is why Allah has 'veiled' us of our sins. that is why muslims dont go to the masjid every week and do confession. which is why when we sin, we should not share it with anyone. so if someone wanted to confess to a capital crime, so be it--he is to receive death.

re: witnesses, we need at least two, and in the case of fornication/adultery, four, in order to find guilt. thats it. those witnesses, however, must be found to be HIGHLY credible, have not lied on the stand before, etc. without either of these, there is no capital punishment.

but if there is an appeal, again, i think it would have to be allowed by the civil leg of that countries judiciary. islam, doesnt per se have such a process.

but Allah knows best, and ive been wrong before.

:)

ishtar: what do you think about flogging as a penalty for fornication? stoning to death as a penalty for adultery? not very humane, are they? yet these are the long established punishments for these sins and in the case of the latter, a death punishment.

Hanging is more of an inhumane way of the death penalty. I think if one implements the death penalty it should be done quick and get it over with. By hanging, you risk the person being hung and his neck being broken, but he's still living.

Ishtar: Are you making a distinction between hanging and beheading? Should it matter?

Taugi: I'm still unsure what Islam says about the whole issue. I've been told that Islam permits the death penalty as per fair legal process... I don't know what that means about the apeals process. I'll see if my friend lawyer can help!

Yeah but do many Muslim countries do hangings? I thought most of them if they did the death penalty just cut the head off?

this is a very interesting debate, people.

i ask: what does islam say about the appeals process?

the thing is....a public hanging is exactly the sort of thing Americans point to as being "barbaric" in many Muslim countries....yet I think a lot of Americans took satisfaction in the way Saddam died.....

The Quran makes it clear that forgiveness and mercy are always superior options compared to vengence... but Islam does allow retribution... so I see the death penalty as being consistent with (but not preferred by) Islamic law

I have yet to see any evidence to say that Islam is "pro-death penalty." In fact, Islam has a tradition of clemency. That said, Islam may permit capital punishment in extreme cases.

I have no doubt that Mr Hussein was a ruthless dictator and killed many people directly or indirectly. He needs to be punished. But I would argue that the death penalty is barbaric. If Islam truly is "pro-death penalty" or permissive of the death penalty, we should ask whether this is proper as Muslims. If "killing a person is like killing the entire humanity" this could be applied both ways...

Islam is pro death penalty. Killing a person is like killing the entire humanity in the eyes of Allah. And likewise, helping a person or saving a person's life is equivelent to helping/saving an entire humanity in the eyes of Allah.
In Islam, if you kill a person, you should be given the death penalty unless the family accepts blood money. And if you steal, you get your hand cut off. An eye for an ee, tooth for a tooth belief system.
I, for one, agree with this.
However, in the case of Saddam, I think it was done more for show than as any sympathy or revenge on behalf of the Iraqi people by the US government. I think it is odd that they did it a day before Eid. Maybe coincidence, maybe not.
However, one thought to ponder. How many people are on death row in America and for how long do they usally wait? And Saddam was sentenced to death some short time ago and got his punishment right away. That is a slap in the face to the victims of American people that were killed by a murderer who are still waiting for their murderer to be executed.
While I agree with the death penalty, I also disagree with the fact of leaving people on death row for 10+ yeras while they just wait. I think if you are gong to do it, do it and get it over with. It is inhumane to let the person sit there and think about it everyday. So in a way, Saddam got more humane treatment than the prisoners on death row in America. And he killed way more people supposedly!!
It's all twisted. But such is the spiderweb of international politics the governments of the world have weaved.....

I agree with Inspr, Islam says "Eye for an eye, hand for a hand " Death for a murderer (unless the relatives pardon the murder and let the guilty go.
Saddam's case became a little political otherwise if he used the chemical weapons on innocent people, there is no punishment enough for him. But again, who are we to decide, and dont even know what really happened.

Christinanity seems to permit the death penalty, but the Vatican denounced capital punishment even for Sadam Hussein yesterday...

can his death be justified in islamic law?