59 ways to lose your head in Mongolia

I just discovered that Mongolia has 59 separate offences which carry the death penalty - I'm shocked! I've been to Mongolia and rate it amongst my favourite countries in the world, mainly because the Mongolians seemed such a lovely and peaceful people, Ghengis Khan excepted!

Personally I don't agree with capital punishment, ever, for the following reasons:

- there is a high risk of depriving an innocent person of their life and have been many such cases in the past
- the death penalty legitimises an irreversible act of violence
- two wrongs don't make a right. You cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing. Or to put it in Desmond Tutu's words, to take a life is revenge, not justice.
- it promotes and sanitises vengeance
- it does not work as a deterrant to others who would consider committing a crime carry the death penalty
- it degrades those who use it to no more moral than the convicted criminals who have incurred the penalty

I could go on...

I think most people in the UK who, sadly, still agree with capital punishment, would only see it as justified for a small number of offences such as murder and violence towards children. So I'm astounded about what relatively minor offences must make the grade for Mongolians to consider them worthy of such a high punishment?

However, I'm pleased to see they're moving towards abolishing it in favour of other penalties. If you are interested in taking action on this issue click on the following link which will take you to Amnesty's campaign page on the subject http://action.amnesty.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1194&ea.campaign.id=10033

Here's a photo from my stay in the very peaceful Terelj National Park in Mongolia for a bit of inner zen!

In other news I'm pleased to report that thanks to a generous donation from my lovely friend Danners I'm now only £3 away from my monthly fundraising target! Thanks again to everyone who has contributed and helped me get to this point.

I've got 20 people coming to my curry night next week which should be fun, but there is plenty of space for anyone else who fancies it, £20 for 3 courses a drink and a chance to take part in my India-themed quiz. More details available from the Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/356244781067608/

I'm also organising a big bowling party for April and a curry night in Leighton Buzzard so keep your eyes akimbo for news of those.

Happy Friday!