SCOTLAND’S Ukip MEP David Coburn has been criticised after he failed to vote against the death penalty during an EU debate about a Sudanese teenager due to be executed for killing her rapist.
Last week, almost all of Europe’s MEPs backed a motion reiterating the parliament’s “strong opposition to the use of the death penalty in all cases and under all circumstances” and calling on Sudan to “comply with the UN moratorium on the death penalty” and spare the life of 19-year-old Noura Hussein.
READ MORE: The UK media have allowed Ukip to stain politics for too long
Coburn was one of a handful who voted against. He told The National that, generally, he had “absolutely no moral objection to the death penalty”.
Labour MEP Catherine Stihler said Coburn had “sunk to a new low”.
Hussein was sentenced to death after she was convicted of killing her husband who, she says, raped her following a forced marriage.
Hussein’s family compelled her to wed when she was just 15, but she refused and ran away for three years. Her father forced her to go through with the wedding in April last year.
The teenager says that after the ceremony, three men held her down while her husband raped her.
A day later, when he tried to rape her again, Hussein stabbed him to death.
When she turned to her family for help, they contacted the police.
According to an appeal lodged with the Sudanese courts, Hussein had slashes to her hands, and bite marks in her shoulder.
Millions, including Harry Potter star Emma Watson, have backed an international campaign to overturn Hussein’s sentence.
At the end of last month, in an emergency debate about Hussein’s plight, MEPs were asked to back a motion opposing “the use of the death penalty in all cases and under all circumstances” as it violated human dignity and constituted “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment”.
The second part of the motion appealed “to the Sudanese authorities to comply with the UN moratorium on the death penalty” and to ratify the Convention against Torture and the UN’s Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
Coburn voted against both. Stihler said the Ukip politician’s views were “antiquated.”
“David Coburn’s ridiculous views are well-known, and sometimes it’s better just to ignore him,” she said.
“But he’s sunk to a new low by voting against an amendment which condemned the death penalty in all cases and under all circumstances.
“While the EU continues to move in a more progressive direction, in the UK we risk going backwards under a hard Brexit supported by people such as Coburn and Jacob Rees-Mogg, with their antiquated views.”
Coburn said he had “absolutely no moral objection to the death penalty”.
He went on: “Furthermore as a Ukipper and Brexiteer, I see no reason for a foreign power, namely the EU, to dictate to the UK whether it exercises the death penalty or not.
“In 1973, the UK joined a trading group of nations. It did not vote to join a country called Europe. We have been progressively conned into this idea that we are part of a country called Europe ever since. The UK has clearly voted to leave this trading bloc in the recent referendum.
“Ms Stihler has clearly not understood that matters such as the death penalty will be decided by the sovereign British Parliament and not an illegitimate foreign power which the UK and perhaps soon Italy, Hungary and Poland may soon be leaving.
“Perhaps she is listening to too many of Sturgeon’s havers?”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel