|
|
| Mexico prisons under fire over torture reports |
| By Dallas Morning News |
| Published: 06/07/2004 |
|
In some ways, Alfonso Martin del Campo is lucky for a U.S. citizen stuck in a Mexican jail. For one thing, Martin del Campo is alive. Another American, Texas native Mario Medina, was killed recently in a Nuevo Laredo prison. But according to their statements, the men shared something that goes to the core of the Mexican justice system and the sometimes-nightmarish experiences of the hundreds of Americans who get tangled up in it. Both expressed their innocence on murder charges and said they had been tortured into signing confessions that did not make much sense but which still have legal weight in Mexico. Juan Jose Gomez Camacho, the head of the human rights department for the Mexican Foreign Ministry, defended the government's handling of the Martin del Campo case and said authorities have every reason to believe he is guilty of double murder. As a newly democratic Mexico criticizes U.S. prison abuses in Iraq and seeks a review of death penalty sentences against Mexicans in U.S. prisons, these two high-profile cases show that all is not well at home, rights groups say. The Martin del Campo case "demonstrates everything we are fighting against," said Arturo Requesens, a Mexican lawyer who works with the French group Christian Action for the Abolition of Torture. "Arbitrary detention, torture, a forced confession, legal irregularities. ... The case of the American executed in jail is another example." U.S. officials pleaded for Medina's protection again and again - to no avail. International rights groups and U.S. legislators are calling for Martin del Campo's release. |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think