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| Lawyers Ask Supreme Court, United Nations to Stop Philippine Executions |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 08/27/2002 |
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A group of human rights lawyers asked the Supreme Court and the United Nations recently to stop the Philippine government from executing 29 convicts while Congress debates a proposal to abolish capital punishment. The executions, all by lethal injection, would be carried out in the next six months, with the first to take place August 30, said the Free Legal Assistance Group, which provides legal counsel to death-row inmates. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo plans to delay the execution of a rape convict that day in deference to the birthday celebration the next day of influential Cardinal Jaime Sin, who opposes the death penalty, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said. Maria Socorro Diokno, secretary-general of the lawyers' group, said they petitioned the high tribunal to stop six scheduled executions and prevent trial judges from setting the execution dates for 23 prisoners whose death sentences have been upheld by the Supreme Court. The House and Senate are deliberating bills seeking to replace capital punishment with life imprisonment. There is a growing chance that both chambers would approve the bills, said Loretta Ann Rosales, a lawmaker leading the fight against the death penalty. Diokno said her group urged the U.N. human rights committee to ask the Philippine government to halt the executions and investigate claims by some death-row inmates that their rights were violated by authorities. Several inmates have raised a number of allegations, including illegal arrests and inadequate legal representation, Diokno said. The death penalty, abolished in 1987, was restored in 1994 for 'heinous' crimes such as rape, kidnapping, murder and drug trafficking. More than 1,690 people have been sentenced to death since then. Human rights groups have called for repeal of the death penalty law, saying it has not deterred crime. Arroyo suspended the death penalty after she took office in January 2001. She lifted the moratorium last October, saying the freeze had emboldened criminals, particularly kidnap-for-ransom gangs. |
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