By Priyanka Motaparthy, Special to CNN
Editor’s note: Priyanka Motaparthy is a children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch and co-author of “Look at Us With a Merciful Eye,” a new report about death sentences in Yemen for juvenile offenders. The views expressed are the writer’s own.
I met Hind in a prison in Yemen almost a year ago. Nineteen years-old, she wore an orange hooded sweatshirt, a long denim skirt, and the sullen expression of a teenager who trusts that no one is on her side. “Hind doesn’t want to talk to anyone,” a social worker told me.
Hind al-Barti was a child offender – under 18 at the time of the alleged crime – on death row in the Central Prison in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital. She was convicted of a murder committed when she was 15, according to her birth certificate. Hind denied committing the crime, but didn’t want her story to be included in a report I was researching about child offenders facing execution in Yemen, fearing revenge by the murder victim’s family. Nine months later, on December 3, with little warning, a government firing squad executed her.
We examined the cases of 22 other alleged child offenders on death row in prisons across Yemen. At least three have exhausted all forms of appeal and, like Hind, could be executed without warning at any minute. Yemen’s 1994 penal code bans execution of child offenders. So does international law to which Yemen is a party. But these executions continue – the government has executed 15 in the past five years.
Yemen is one of only four countries in the world known to have executed juvenile offenders in the past five years. The others are Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan. It’s been a year since a new government took office following a popular uprising, pledging to move Yemen toward democracy and rule of law. But these promises have meant little for the child offenders in Yemen’s prisons, as they see new death sentences handed down on mere teenagers, who share their own stories of police abuse and judicial corruption.
A variety of factors mean the law carries little weight, including judges and prosecutors who simply disregard the ban, political and tribal pressure on government officials to approve the executions, and widespread skepticism in Yemeni society that children deserve special protection in murder cases.
More from CNN: Child workers given back childhood
Many child offenders end up on Yemen’s death row because they lack birth certificates – Yemen has one of the world’s lowest birth registration rates, and many Yemenis I met knew only their birth year, if that. But some child offenders on death row do have documentation proving their age. Some told me that judges and prosecutors simply ignored their evidence. One young man said a judge told him: “Even if you are 10 years-old, the punishment for murder is death.”
Three of the six alleged child offenders we interviewed said that police had tortured them, forcing them to confess. Walid Haikal, whose execution orders were signed by former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and could be carried out at any moment, told me he was 14 and in the seventh grade when the police arrested him and a group of men from his village for murder in 2000. “[The police would] shackle us like a chicken, put metal between our legs and do falaka. This means beating you with a wooden stick on the bottom of your feet. Of course you’d want to confess anything,” he told me.
In January, the young men and teenagers in Sanaa’s Central Prison decided they had had enough. When one of them, Nadim al-Aza’azi, was sentenced to death for a murder committed three years ago when he was 15, his fellow inmates went on a hunger strike. Seventy-seven signed a public letter demanding an end to death sentences and executions for child offenders, the creation of an impartial committee for determining age in past and future criminal cases, fair trial protections for all children, and trials only in juvenile courts for alleged child offenders. Human Rights Watch supports similar recommendations.
A few days ago, I returned to Sanaa Central Prison and found the hunger strike had ended. I asked a social worker who regularly visits the prison what had inspired such a dramatic action now, when many had been imprisoned for years. “Even in prison, the revolution had its effects,” she told me, referring to Yemen’s popular uprising in 2011. “They saw and heard what was happening outside in the square, on the streets. They wanted their rights too.”
The boys and young men I met in a Sanaa jail have set out a clear plan for Yemen’s new government to make good on its promises of reform. “I want the world to know that here they are executing [juvenile offenders],” one young inmate said.
On March 7 in London, donor governments known as the Friends of Yemen will meet to follow up on last year’s pledges of $7.8 billion in aid for Yemen’s new government, and to address challenges to reform. Should these donors – including U.K., the host – wish to be true friends to Yemen, they will urge Yemen’s leaders to listen to these forgotten voices. They will insist that Yemeni authorities abide by laws meant to protect Yemeni lives – not least of all, from unjust executions at the hands of their own government.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Army Eliminates Terrorists, Destroys their Hideouts in Several Areas
The Armed Forces continued operations against the terrorist groups in the areas of Jubar, Douma and Adra in Damascus Countryside.
An official source told SNA reporter on Tuesday that the army clashed with terrorists in Jubar neighborhood and killed and injured scores of them.
The source added that the army also eliminated scores of terrorists in al-Raihan farms in Douma. Another army unit killed terrorists and destroyed their vehicles in Adra area.
In the town of Qara, a convoy of cars used by terrorists from Jabhet al-Nusra was destroyed along with the terrorists, weapons and munitions inside them.
West of the town of Yabroud, an Army unit pursued terrorists in the farms of Rima, killing a number of terrorists, injuring others, and destroying their equipment.
Army units carried out a series of operations in Adra and its surroundings, killing and injuring a number of terrorists and destroying cars they had been using.
Armed Forces Clash with Terrorists in Darayya and Zabadani, Inflict Heavy Losses upon them
Units of the Armed Forces inflicted heavy losses upon terrorists in Darayya and Zabadani cities and destroyed their arms and vehicles.
An official source told SANA reporter that units of the Armed Forces clashed with terrorists along the train railway in Sharidah Square in Darayya city and killed and injured a number of them.
The source pointed out that a unit of the Armed Forces clashed with terrorists in Zabadani city and destroyed two pickups and a car equipped with a heavy machinegun.
Weapons Cache Seized, Explosives Workshop Targeted in Aleppo
Authorities seized a weapons cache inside a terrorist hideout in Khan al-Assal in Aleppo countryside which contained 50 missiles and a missile-launching platform.
In al-Bab, an Armed Forces unit targeted a hideout used as a workshop to manufacture explosive devices, killing and injuring a number of terrorists.
Your post is not relevant to the story.
You are lost again??
Outstanding copy 'n' paste skills.
Not really.
Twitter version please.
Obama has murdered quite a few children with his drone strikes.
Bush has killed THOUSANDS with "his wanted" war...even our own, but that's ok..PFFT
Pres.Bush killed thousands more.Were you in a coma then and only today just awoke?
Those kids should have been in school
And bush bombed Iraq with cotton candy.
Islamist children are no better than their parents. Kill them all.
we are not awarding the longest poster anymore–that was in 1983
Why do you like to exploit a story about children being executed to advance your unrelated opinion?
As is well-known and has been criticized by a host of human rights organizations, the United States is one country that sentences juveniles to death (though not executes them before 18). It might as well have been included in this list of nice countries.
He listed countries that have done so in the past 5 years. The last juvenile offender executed in the US was executed 10 years ago, according to wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_juvenile_offenders_executed_in_the_United_States
It would seem relevant though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roper_v._Simmons
US no longer executes individuals for crimes committed under the age of 18.
Thanks for pointing this out, that was helpful.
I think this information should have been included in the article;
Let's also not forget that Roper v. Simmons, the US Supreme Court case setting precedent in this matter, was not settled unanimously, with justices Scalia, Rehnquist Thomas. and O’Connor in dissent.
Scalia, in writing the minority dissent, particularly noted that the most important legal factor was determining whether execution of minors would have been considered cruel and unusual at the time of ratification of the Bill of Rights.
To spell this out, Scalia's point was that the understanding of moral's and ethics in 1789, was the determining factor, and that current public consensus was not of any relevance.
As is apparent, two of the justices that opposed halting the execution of minors in 2005 are still justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
no one cares-you kill, you should be executed-age doesnt matter
That's absurd.
We call them children and don't allow them many adult privileges because they are too immature to handle them. We don't let them drink or drive, they have little impulse control when young. We give them curfews and limit their activities because they think and act with their emotions. Their brain has not fully developed. Yet you want to put a child on death row and treat them like adults. There is no logic. You've lost your humanity.
It would be nice if they proved guilt first, think that should be a priority in any country.
Perhaps you should have done your research before acting like a know-it-all.
What do all of the listed countries have in common? They are not Christian. These are there beliefs. Is it right to impose our belief system on them? Just keep them out of the USA.
Rudolf, you're right. I didnt know that before. Not to mention states like Texas that execute mentally retarded people.
Yemen is crazy and Texas isn't too far behind.
Hey! I'm from Texas! And you know what? Yeah, the politicans and morals down here are pretty conservative. Sadly, the jobs are here as well. It's funny though... All the cities in Texas consistently vote Democratic, but we have so many people in rural areas/suburbs, that Texas stays a conservative state.
And you are ignorant.
We should declare Texas a foreign power, so we could bomb it out of existence. The whole place is a travesty.
You are an idiot.
You're either making a very bad joke, or you're a nutcase.
so you are saying that a few backwards, backwoods people and their ideals, the whole state should be erradicated? that in iteself is backwards thinking...i'm a resident of texas, part of the united states. i don't support what my government leaders do and think but that's not going to make me condemn the whole damn country. it's like war, i don't support it however i support the men and women who fight for my freedom.
And this is just a huuuuuuuuuge stretch from what we do here isn't it?
yes
If juvenile offenders are facing death sentence, it says that they belong to the impoverished, rural class. The rich and the powerful would get away with impunity. That police uses torture to extract a confession is nothing new. Sometimes innocent people are made scapegoats. The authorities don't care, as long as they can show off.
And see child criminals in London. They are scot free to do anything. Loot, murder..anything...
Towel Heads is what Towel Heads do. hahahahahahahaha
Thank you for that remarkable piece of insught.
Your mother must be so proud
.
@Retired Army Officer.......Well said.
you sound like a "Re-pube" from Texas.
Haha, you're antisemitic. If you evaluate the crime rate per capita between the Arab world and the US, you would locate a distinct disparity between the two regions, with the US leading by far. You're ignorant remark is tantamount to stating, "white people do what white people do best, commit mass murder in public facilities."
When are we going to stop caring what these people do? We can't even manage ourselves FFS.
Exactly. We are just busy bodies now, trying to dictate to other people how to live, while we have massive problems at home.
At last, a good, sensible comment. How about minding our own business for a change, and fix our own problems.
Allahu Snackbar!
I'm ashamed to admit that made me giggle.
I was thinking all the 'stan' countries have executed juveniles. Mostly without any kind of trial or hearing.
Can't believe some of the BS comments on the US sentencing children to die. The US and most other civilized countries have a heart and would not flog, dismember and execute adults let alone minors. Some states in the US but with as much due course as possible. You know in these cases involving the certain stone age countries these kids are beaten and much worse into a confession. BTW ..I am from Canada but I know the US ain't nowhere near the absurdities that go on in those countries.
its a bleeding heart-vast majority want killers executed-we are far too lenient here
The U.S sentences juveniles to death too. Lets clean out our own closets first before we point fingers at other countries.
No, the US does not. See the Supreme Court ruling in 2005 that ended that.
yeah? who? where? go back to the sports discussion junior
The US is the only country on the globe that sentence children as young as 11 and 13 years of age to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibits the incarceration of children under 18 years of age without the possibility of parole for any crime, this treaty was ratified by every member of the UN, with the exception of Somalia and the US.
We sentence kids as adults all the time in this country.
True; but not to death and thats kinda the point of the story sammy
Wait a minute. The Obama administration has killed non-combatant teenagers with drone strikes. Where the outrage there, CNN?
Proof?
CNN is cover for this administration. You'll never see a story like that here on CNN, they would much rather cover the latest dance craze.
The poor souls were simply in the wrong place, at the wrong time period. 'Shiit happens......get over it!
yeah that never happened under Bush...pleazze....
You don't think there were children killed by collateral damage in Iraq or Afghanistan while Bush was President? No country that wages war is able to avoid that, no matter how hard we or they try. I think the US military attempts to minimize civilian deaths. But zero is not possible. Things are quite a bit better than during WW II when whole cities were bombed intensively.
Collateral damage.Who cares,except for their mothers?
It's called war. Innocent casualties happen. No such thing as a bloodless war.
and Bush didn't have bombs dropped on tens of thousands of innocent children?
what about the bombing in Vietnam? Korea? WWII? WWI?
you're an idiot.
And let's not forget the countless wars throughout history.
name 1 war that did not result in children dying?
The US Supreme Court has banned the execution of those who are mentally retarded [Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002)], or who were minors at the time of their crimes [Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005)].
its a shame-the retarded murderers should die-they wouldnt know what was happening anyway...
Not funny, Norm.
Everyone, please remind me to laugh at Norm when he gets a traumatic brain injury.
Thanks.
Yemen is a very conservative nation that is made up of mostly tribal communities much like the southern united states. Usually politically connected preachers or mullahs run the show. They feel dinosaurs and man lived as one as well.
When I read the headline I thought this was about Texas.
Yet another genius.
Wow I will sorry for these kids that's just
Inhumane to do such a thing to underage
People
Yeah, so what if that 'underage' person killed your family members? Then would it be OK to execute them ?? Tell us !
Don't forget that these people didn't receive fair trials. A lot of them - maybe all of them - are innocent.
here's hoping one of your underage loved ones get caught, jailed and fried.
deathwombat-or maybe they did receive fair trials...
Most if not all of cases in that country are based on confessions people were tortured into making. What woman would be crazy enough to commit such a crime over there? Sometimes I think family blame whoever they wanted rid of to begin with..
America kills children ALL THE TIME. No judge, no jury, just a freaking drone strike from out of no where. How about we focus of fixing the stupidity within our reach instead of cry about that which we can't change.
Agreed! Do a story on the atrocities in Pakistan..oh that's right, no one over here cares about the innocent people we drone blast over there..
The United States is still the Roman Empire of the 21st Century! Hurraaahhhh! Hurraaahhhh!
We're the biggest bullies on the block, so we will always be the most hated.
What's everyone in such a fuss about? Here in the US more and more people are in favor of sentencing adolescents to death for crimes, carrying on and on about how they know right from wrong, how it'll deter the next one and so on and so forth. Of course they wouldn't dream of letting a 13 year old have a beer or gambling at a casino or joining the service. So don't come to me with this pretend outrage at what we are willing to do to children in places where we're not, to children we can't see.
Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Iran? what do these progressive countries all have in common? hmm.....
The fact that they appear in your sentence?
Not much. What do YOU think they have in common? If you are thinking Islam how do you explain the other 45 Muslim majority countries that AREN'T on the list?
Let's be honest. "Children" in the USA commit all kinda of crimes knowing when they are under 18 they get a free walk. The violent little monsters can commit assault, battery, theft and even murder, Of course when felonies are commited the blame game is never "I;m under 18 so I figured YOLO." but a pathetic pre-rehersed babble about video games, movies and violence on TV. Which makes them all the happier cause once again parents and police allow them to blame the invisible friend for the deed. Lower that to 15. At 15 you know and it's cemented you know right from wrong. It's the parents who are to oblivious to get it...
Turning 18 doesn't magicly make you smarter or a a instant adult. But knowing you can get away with anything under the age of 18 is the basis of most underaged crime in the USA. No punishment...
Revolt. Throw off the chains of unnecessary governments.
'Walid Haikal, whose execution orders were signed by former president Ali Abdullah Saleh...'
The USA welcomed Saleh for medical treatment in NYC in January and February 2012.
What do you know another mu-slim country. If I –slam was taken from the world how many lives would be saved?
With friends like these, who needs Yemenis?
Outstanding!
It's an article about the U.S., circa 1995.
If these teenagers MURDERED people so what? They SHOULD be on death row. But being tortured to confess to something you did not do is another story.
AD 1613 Burning witches
AD 2013 Killing kids
Future humans sure will think we are really really really ignorant
Islamophobia anyone?
Oh thank you. Glad you asked.
A phobia is when you're scared of something for no rational reason. Being afraid of Islam is VERY rational, or have you been hiding under a rock since Sept 2001? They should be wiped off the face of the planet. ALL OF THEM.
Let's see..... when a 15 year old kills someone.... they are just as dead as when a 40 year old kills someone. Only a pathetic parent would not have taught them the difference between right and wrong by then.
test
Nuke them. Nuke ALL of them, before these technologically advancing animals advance anymore. Start with Mecca. A 20 megaton'er ought to do it...
Then on to Haifa.
Hey there mister anti-semitic piece of sh–i–t. How does it feel to have no soul?
Great idea, We should do that in U.S.
"Yemen is one of only four countries in the world known to have executed juvenile offenders in the past five years." Good thing that the writer only talks about the last five years or the United States would be included in that barbaric group. The United States took a big step towards joining the civilized world in 2005 when a Supreme Court decision set the minimum age at time of crime for capital punishment at 18. The US will finally join the civilized world completely when capital punishment is ended altogether.
Even a ten year old knows its wrong to murder someone. Yes, some of them may be wrong convicted but keep in mind that we don't know the whole story in these cases.
I thought from the headline, this was about Texas.
kill someone w/o justifiable cause; die yourself. what's the f#*%ing problem.
Wait a second now. Just wait a bloody second. I thought that Israsel was the great devil in the Middle East. Why is it that it's so common for Moslem states to be the ones that are committing barbaric, heinous crimes against humanity. I was told many many times that the Arabs are poor, innocent victims of a satanic Israel bent on a blood thirsty agenda to wipe out the angelic, innocent Moslems.
when they blow things up anywhere else in the world they are Arab Muslim Terrorists. When they blow things up in Israel they are Palestinian victims of the great Satan.
My opinion?
Proof = guilt = punishment.
I have no problem with the death penalty at all. If your crime warrants it, then so be it.
I do however, have a problem with mid-evil, backwards nations and their justice systems. That being said, I have a problem with our justice system in the US as well, because we are far to soft.
Some where in the middle is the answer. The penalty for committing a crime needs to be harsh and swift, and equal to the crime committed. This being said, there is no reason to house murderers for decades, and minor offenses should warrant spending a month sorting recyclables from garbage dumps.
There is more crime now than ever before in the history of mankind. Think about that.
Sounds like most, if not all, of these kids are actually innocent. Police tortured them until they confessed to something they didn't do. They were poor so they had no money to pay a lawyer to defend them. Meanwhile, the real killer roamed the streets to kill again, and for every murder he committed, another innocent child was convicted so some police officer could check off another case "solved."
Such is life in the middle east. Sucks to be them.
Reblogged this on The World Outside of Yourself.
We kill children with drones.
oh, are you suffering badly, poor thing?
Golly. How did I know in advance that this would be a story about a "peaceful Muslim" country??
ROFLMAS-good for them....
Sounds like a lot of these kids were probably innocent, but tortured into making confessions, probably because the police get props for "solving" the case and finding "the murderer" and not a lot of consequences if they've got the wrong person (especially if the person they DO have has no resources with which to defend themselves).
However, for the ones that are actually guilty, I wonder...what is the rehabilitation rate for juvenile offenders (elsewhere, that are not executed)? Do they actually become decent adults? Or are they criminals in adulthood just like they were in childhood?
Until very recently, the US also executed child offenders. And we still have an unfortunately high rate of false convictions on those sentenced to death.
Everyone need to read about 14-year-old George Junius Stinney Jr before we start going crazy about another country's criminal policies...
In their country this is just late term abortion.
Until March 1, 2005, the United States was the only nation in the world that permitted the execution of children under age 18. Only seven countries besides the U.S. have executed juvenile offenders since 1990: Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and China. Since then, each of these countries has either abolished capital punishment for juveniles or made public disavowal of the practice. With the Supreme Court's monumental ruling in Roper v. Simmons, the United States has finally joined the community of nations that says the state-sanctioned execution of children is wrong.
We send kids into combat all the time that are no legally old enough to drink a beer. Either lower the drinking age to the combat age, or raise the combat age to the drinking age.
Maybe if we had that in the US our kids would have more respect.
WE, the people, do not give a dam about what other countries are doing. WE are tired of the ungrateful world. WE are going to focus on bringing our economy back up and kick some butt in that area. Get lost and tell me stuff about my country, the USA.
This is a culture problem, their religion would not change their problems or ignorance.
Just more proof that capital punishment is murder. In some places it's murder by decree, in the US it's murder by committee. The issue is not how evil or vile or perverted the convicted person is, it's how evil or vile or perverted we are to let this happen.
99% of you people that post on here are morons. Please refrain so the rest don't need to be exposed to your stupidty.
I see this no different than here in America. Children are sentenced to death everyday by the hundreds...via abortion.
I don't see a problem with it, I mean, if a kid murders, they still murdered and the crime must be paid for. What about the murdered persons dreams that they will never fullfill, what about the murdered persons friends and family who now will suffer with their loss for the rest of their lives? Kid or not, you murder, you need to be put down like the rabid dog you are. I get so sick of kids being forgiven for murder just because they are kids, it's stupid. Most kids never even think of murder, and if you murder as a kid, you will be one messed up adult anyway, just get rid of the garbage.
Millions of babies are murdered/aborted every year in America for the convenience of their parents.
enforcing the law involves insulting someone. why a threat is not an insult is beyond me. why socialism is expected by some convoluted morality that doesn't cover complete disappearances.
I so thought this story was going to be about Texas.
Is anyone seriously surprised that a Middle East country is pulling this kind of crap? These people are barbarians and their crappy little religion is at the center of it.
In the US, children as young as 13 are sentenced to life in prison, effectively eliminating anything approaching normal life. Realistically, is that any better than a death sentence??
Not for the citizens who have to foot the bill for as long as the worthless POS is incarcerated.
Why is it OK to kill a kid before they're born but not until after they're 18?
Well he!!, let's give them Most-Favored-Nation trading status then...
I clicked on this thinking it would be about Texas
The United States and other Western "developed" countries continue to protract childhood by enfantalizing people until now persons up to age 18 are called "children" – even though physically, intellectually, socially and emotionally they bare little resemblance to 5 and 10 year olds. Puberty distinguishes children from adulthood physically and reasonably this distinction ought to be recognized in categorizing a person as a child or an adult. Culture also determines whether a person of a particular age is a child or ab adult. A 16-year-old in the middle class US is treated as a child whereas in many parts of the world 16-year-olds have children of their own and live an adult's life. And, for that matter, many 16-year-olds in the US who live in poverty or in wealth also live the lives of adults at 16. This article is nothing more than colonialist drek.
Ann, you're generalizing the global community, and your statement is inaccurate. Biometrically, neuroscientists have verified the human brain is not fully developed until an individual reaches their early twenties, which has a drastic impact upon their decision making capabilities. For example, younger people (16-23) have a proclivity of driving much faster and more recklessly than people who are 25 years of age. This is partly due to the brain's inability to conceptualize and appreciate consequences, thereby possessing a sense of invunerability. There exists corpus empirical data substantiating this fact on a global scale, reflecting that cultural consideration and influences lacks any significant degree of salience towards the culmination of the studies.
There's nothing like having one form of justice for the rich (privileged and well-connected) and one for the poor (disadvantaged and disenfranchised). How sad.
The good news is, God will judge everyone justly, in his own time. (See: Kohelloth)
Thou Shalt Not Kill.
It is a blessing to be born and live in the USA.
Just what the World needs: Another failed Muslim Country.
sanjosemike
When I saw the headline I wondered which country from the Middle East this would be.
I understand by far the vast majority of Muslims abhor what happens to these children but do notice that the four countries where it happens in are Iran, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Sudan are all some of the strictist Islamic countries in the world and that definitely has to have an impact on it.
That is a lie! They executed a 16 year old female in the late 50's or 60's in georgia. The first female ever executed in the US.
Yemen is one of only four countries in the world known to have executed juvenile offenders in the past five years. The others are Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan. (quote from article). Notice anything about these countries? Think.
Sherri, what is your point? You're generalizing the entire Muslim world consisting of more than 50 nations according to the actions of 4 countries? This is absurd. Should I generalize the Christian world as being hyper-violent as a result of the US being a military state in which not a single US generation since the American Revolution has ever experienced anything other than multiple military conflicts, most being acts of unprovoked aggression? Or that the Western Christian world was responsible for both World Wars culminating in the slaughter of tens of millions, with the Second World War caused by Adolf Hitler who justified his acts of brutality by employing Christianity and the Bible in both his speeches and book Mein Kamf? Or the US is the only country in the UN, along with Somalia to refuse signing the UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibiting the incarceration of children under 18 years of age without the possibility of parole for any crime? Or, the US is the only country to sentence 11 year olds to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole? Or, that the US has the largest incarcerated population in the world, exceeding China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran? Or, the US has the highest rate of fire arm homicides among the developed world? Or, the US has a higher crime rate per capita than all of the Arab Muslim countries combined? Or, the US has recently invaded and occupied a sovereign state (Iraq) under false pretenses, against the will of the international community and Iraqi citizens, and is responsible for the murder of more than one million innocent civilians; the majority consisting of women, children, and the elderly? By simply evaluating these real factors, one could easily argue that Christianity and densely Christian nations are far more violent than Muslim nations. If I recall correctly, only one Muslim country has invaded another sovereign state within the last two decades. Whereas, the US has invaded several countries from the Caribbean to the Middle East. Fortunately, I'm intelligent enough to avoid such fallible constructs, unfortunately you are not. Let's not discuss the enslavement of millions of Africans and forcibly converting them to Christianity, along with other indigenous populations on the planet-forcing them to either convert or be slaughtered. The Qur'an states, "there is no compulsion in religion." Meaning in English, you cannot force people to convert to Islam, which the majority of objective historians and Middle East experts now conclude that overwhelming majority of conversions to Islam occurred as a result of trade and interaction, rather than the myth of "the sword." Sadly, the Christians did not only convert others by the sword, but also by the whip and the bullet. If Christianity is your religion, I highly advise you to research the crimes committed by the adherents of your own faith and condemn those actions prior to criticizing the "religious others."