Right to life 'the most sacred'

Amnesty International (Malta Group) joined the Bulgarian community on Wednesday in a silent protest outside the Libyan Embassy in Balzan.

The group gathered to condemn the decision taken by Libya's Benghazi Criminal Court which has sentenced five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor to death by firing squad.

Amnesty said it was also deeply disturbed by allegations that Libyan officials attempted to extract confessions under torture from the six individuals.

Ever since its inception, Amnesty has been fighting to eradicate the death penalty in all states. It expressed its disgust at the execution on May 18 of Kelsey Patterson, a seriously mentally ill person. Texan Governor Rick Perry allowed death by lethal injection to go ahead despite a rare recommendation from the state Board of Pardons and Paroles that the death sentence of this man be commuted, the organisation said.

Amnesty holds that the death penalty goes against the most sacred human right of all, the right to life.