EXTERNAL (for general distribution)AI Index: AMR 14/02/95

Distr: UA/SC

EXTRA 54/95Death Penalty15 May 1995

BAHAMASTrevor NIXON

Trevor Nixon is scheduled to be executed in the Bahamas on 25 May 1995. According to information received, he was sentenced to death for murder on 20 February 1992. There have been no executions in the Bahamas since 1984.

Amnesty International does not know if Trevor Nixon has exhausted his appeals and if he has yet appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, the final court of appeal for many Commonwealth countries, including the Bahamas. However, in view of the urgency of the situation, we are asking for immediate appeals.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases as a violation of the right to life, and the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment, as proclaimed in the Universal declaration of Human Rights.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please telephone, or send telegrams/faxes/express/airmail letters, in English if possible:

- expressing deep concern that Trevor Nixon is scheduled to be executed on 25 May 1995 and urging that his death sentence be commuted;

- expressing deep concern at this attempt to resume the use of the death penalty in the Bahamas after nine years without executions;

- calling on the authorities not to take such a retrograde step, especially at a time when more countries worldwide are moving towards the abolition of the death penalty;

- expressing sympathy for the victims of violent crime and their relatives;

- noting that detailed research in many countries has produced no evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than other punishment.

Other points may also be added:

- the death penalty is brutalizing to all who are involved in the process;

- it is arbitrary and often falls disproportionately on minority and underprivileged groups;

- it denies the widely accepted principle of rehabilitating the offender;

- it does not alleviate the suffering caused to the victims of the crime.

APPEALS TO

His Excellency Clifford Darling, Kt., JP

Governor General

PO Box N8301

Nassau

The Bahamas

Faxes: +1 809 322 4659

Telephone: +1 809 322 1875

Telegrams: Governor General, Nassau, Bahamas

Salutation: Your Excellency

The Honourable Hubert Ingraham,

Prime Minister

Office of the Prime Minister

Churchill Building

PO Box N 3746

Nassau

The Bahamas

Faxes: +1 809 327 5806

Telephone: +1 809 322 2805

Telegrams: Prime Minister, Nassau, Bahamas

Salutation: Dear Prime Minister

COPIES OF YOUR APPEALS TO:

Senator Brent Symonette,

Attorney-general

PO Box N 3007

Nassau

Bahamas

and to diplomatic representatives of the Bahamas accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.