DESMOND Tutu, the respected South African Archbishop, yesterday appealed to the Jamaican legislature not to reinstate the death penalty in the Caribbean island, even as parliamentarians debated the controversial issue.

Tutu, in a statement issued through the human rights organisation, Amnesty International - which is itself opposed to capital punishment - said while Jamaica's murder rate was alarmingly high and made such a decision difficult, studies have shown that in some countries the death penalty has been used as a tool of repression against the poor and racial or ethnic minorities.

".It is imposed and inflicted arbitrarily. It is an irrevocable punishment, resulting inevitably in the execution of people innocent of any crime. It is a violation of fundamental human rights," said the South African.

"Those held guilty of acts of violence must be held to account. But we must remember that human rights protect the best of us as well as the worst of us, which is why they protect all of us. Even the most callous of murderers amongst us retain their human rights," he said.

At the same time, 14 regional Anglican Bishops last week passed a resolution opposing the death penalty in the Caribbean, and urged the church, state and civil society to deal with the root causes of crime and violence.

"Mindful of our Blessed Lord's repudiation of 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth' and that in our prayer, study, reflection and experience, the death penalty has not been proved to be a deterrent; We, the Bishops of the Church in the Province of the West Indies, meeting in Nassau in AD 2008, are of one mind in calling our people to stand with us in our opposition to the death penalty," the bishops said in a statement issued yesterday.

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