Document - BARBADE : Amnesty International envoie aux autorités une lettre ouverte sur la peine de mort

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Media Advisory

AI Index: AMR 15/004/2002 (Public)

News Service No: 150

27 August 2002

Barbados: Amnesty International open letter on the death penalty

Amnesty International wrote today to the government of Barbados to express concern at steps being taken towards the resumption of executions in the country.

The human rights organization is particularly concerned about a proposed amendment to the Constitution, which threatens to curtail constitutional guarantees protecting people under death sentence.

Should the amendment be passed, prisoners would be prevented from challenging their executions on the grounds of the length of time they have spent under sentence of death and the prison conditions under which they are held. Moreover, the amendment seeks to limit the length of time allowed for intergovernmental human rights bodies to examine complaints from prisoners.

In its letter, Amnesty International urged the government of Barbados to embrace the international trend away from the use of the death penalty and join the majority of the world’s nations who have turned their backs on the use of this cruel and irrevocable punishment. The organization stressed that the resumption of hanging would be a retrograde step and further called on Barbados not to take that path.

** The full text of the letter is available on the Amnesty International website at: http://web.amnesty.org/web/content.nsf/pages/gbr_barbados

Public Document

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