The Bible says an eye for an eye (Leviticus 24; 19) and surely when it come to a crime such as genocide this theological argument is never more poignant.
On January 25 Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as Chemical Ali, was hung to for fill his four death sentences for genocide and crime against humanity.
To be more specific for his part in the gassing of 5,000 Kurds in the town of Halabja in 1988.
His execution was a quieter affair than that of his cousin Saddam Hussein in 2006 which led to the infamous video shot on a mobile phone.
However despite the undoubted evil of the Iraqi regime of the late 1980s is it right for the UK, a country which long ago abolished the capital punishment, to act so complicit in the killing of a foreign official?
Sunnis in Iraq see these executions not so much as a punishment but as retribution or even revenge for the previous establishment.
Of cause in the aftermath of World War Two we were essential in setting up the war crimes trials in both Nuremburg and Japan.
Many Nazis committed suicide rather than face the consequences and nobody had mobile phones to create martyred images on a camera phone.
It is hard to argue against people, Jews and Kurds especially, who gain some sense of retribution from seeing their persecutors meet a similar demise to their relatives in the same way it brings satisfaction to the families of murder victims in certain parts of America.
There were many however who, in a strange way, were pleased to see the compassion extended to the Lockerbie Bomber which he had not extended to his victims.
Allowing a terminally ill man to die with his family could be seen as the responsibility of any first world country lat alone what he has done to that country.
Again it is not difficult however to see why the decision has become so controversial.
It could be a strange blessing that successful suicide bombers never get to face the death penalty, although as jihadists is not death their ultimate goal.
With this in mind is the death penalty really a punishment at all for Muslim extremists?
Is not the whole reason for having capital punishment in the first place for it to act as a deterrent?
Statistics show murders in America are actually more common in states which have the death penalty suggesting the deterrent argument is ridiculous.
Again however I would ask you to argue against the satisfaction the victims family gets from seeing their demise.
With Muslim extremists it goes full circle yet again to a point where death is their ultimate goal.
Executing the failed bombers of 7/7, Glasgow or Detroit on Christmas Day surely is doing their job for them.
In this case why hang Saddam and Chemical Ali. Does this solve anything and as Muslims doing what they saw as gods work does this not hasten an end which they see as favourable.
Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic may both yet see the full force of the law extended to The Hague, but again this will not bring back the countless numbers killed in Sarajevo and Srebrenica.
Is not a lifetime behind bars a more apt punishment after the decadent lifestyle they enjoyed whilst others starved and were slaughtered?
Capital punishment is a thorny issue and we should all be thankful this latest execution did not end in the debacle seen in 2006.
Maybe however the West should look at its own morals before passing such judgements on the Muslim world.
