LONDON, Egypt, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in an interview published Saturday, urged Egypt not to seek the death penalty for former President Hosni Mubarak.
Ban told al-Hayat, an Arabic newspaper in London, that the United Nations has passed resolutions urging members to adopt moratoriums on executions and not to use the death penalty, al-Masry al-Youm reported.
France and Germany, which no longer allow the death penalty, and Russia, which has not carried out an execution since 1996, have all called on Egypt to refrain from executing Mubarak.
Egyptian prosecutors said last month that Mubarak, 83, deserves execution for ordering police to shoot protesters last year after mass demonstrations were held against his rule.
"Retribution is the solution. Any fair judge must issue a death sentence for these defendants," Mostafa Khater, one of the five prosecutors, told the court.
