From: Hilary Naylor <hnaylor@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Date: 20 Nov 92 20:30 PST
Subject: TRINIDAD & TOBAGO: DP appeal
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700811:000:4044
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hnaylor    Nov 20 20:30:00 1992


From: Hilary Naylor <hnaylor>
Subject: TRINIDAD & TOBAGO: DP appeal

/* Written  8:25 pm  Nov 20, 1992 by hnaylor@igc.apc.org in igc:ai.general */
/* ---------- "TRINIDAD & TOBAGO: DP appeal" ---------- */
Amnesty International
International Secretariat
1 Easton Street
London WC1X 8DJ
United Kingdom

DATE: 17 NOVEMBER 1992

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL OBSERVES APPEAL HEARING IN DEATH
PENALTY CASES

Amnesty International has designated Mr Doodnauth Singh, a senior Guyanese
barrister, to observe the hearing of the appeal in the case of three men
currently facing execution in Trinidad and Tobago.

      "Amnesty International is deeply concerned at the possibility of
executions being resumed by Trinidad and Tobago, where executions have not
been carried out since 1979 - one of the longest unofficial moratoria in the
Caribbean".  

      The three men, Gayman Jurisingh, Peter Matthews and Faizal Mohammed, all
convicted of murder, had been scheduled to be hanged on Tuesday 10 November
1992. They have spent between 10 and 14 years in prison, most of this time on
death row.  Lawyers acting on their behalf submitted a constitutional motion
arguing that their constitutional rights would be violated if they were
executed. 

      The executions were put on hold while the High Court heard the motion
between Monday 9 and Wednesday 11 November.  At the end of the hearing, on
Wednesday night, the court dismissed the motion.

      Amnesty International was concerned at the unusual speed at which the
proceedings appeared to be taking place.  It has been the norm in the past
that a stay of execution is granted, and that a date for a hearing on the
substance of the constitutional motion is set to take place at a later time.  

      Lawyers immediately filed an appeal and the court reportedly sought an
undertaking from the government that executions would not be carried out
pending further proceedings.  The appeal is to be heard at 9.30 hrs, on
Tuesday 17 November, by the Court of Appeal in Port of Spain.  Mr Singh will
attend these proceedings on behalf of Amnesty International.

      Amnesty International said, "We do not condone the terrible crimes of
which these men have been convicted and have the deepest sympathy for the
victims and their relatives.  However, the execution of these men will neither
compensate for the lives of those murdered nor will it deter others from
committing similar crimes." Amnesty International opposes the death penalty
and torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of
all prisoners without reservation.

      Amnesty International noted that the death penalty had been abolished in
five countries in the Caribbean in 1990: Anguilla, Cayman Islands, Montserrat,
Turks and Caicos and the British Virgin Islands.  In September 1992, Jamaica's
parliament approved legislation narrowing the use of the death penalty.  The
number of executions in the region has gone down from a high of 17 in 1986 to
two in 1991 and none so far this year.  In this context, "The resumption of
executions in Trinidad and Tobago after 13 years would be a retrograde step
for the protection of human rights," the organization said.  

      In 1991 Trinidad and Tobago ratified the American Convention on Human
Rights.  The abolitionist spirit prevailing in the Americas was clearly
demonstrated in the adoption, by the General Assembly of the Organization of
American States in June 1990, of a Protocol to the American Convention on
Human Rights to Abolish the Death Penalty, by which State Parties to the
Protocol agree "not to apply the death penalty in their territory to any
person subject to their jurisdiction".  Amnesty International has urged
Trinidad and Tobago to "refrain from acting against this regional move towards
universal abolition of the death penalty".  

      According to Amnesty International's procedures Mr Singh will report
back to the International Executive Committee of Amnesty International and
will make no statements to the media. 

Newsgroups: soc.motss,soc.bi