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Int'l Court to US: Don't Execute Mexican Nationals

by Jordan Yerman | July 17, 2008 at 05:35 am

226 views | 25 Recommendations | 5 comments

In a move welcomed by Mexico, The United Nations' highest court is urging the US not to execute five Mexican nationals who had, during the course of their respective trials, been denied access to their consulate.

Texas is bridling at the intervention, though, saying that extra-national bodies should not govern state business.

The ICJ - the UN's highest court - had previously ruled that the men had been denied the right to help from their consulate after their arrests.

A 2005 ruling by President George W Bush that the cases should be reviewed was overturned by the US Supreme Court. But the Hague-based court told the US it should not execute the men before it made its final judgement.

In a majority ruling, the ICJ said the US should "take all measures necessary to ensure (they) are not executed pending judgment... unless and until these five Mexican nationals receive review and reconsideration (of their sentences)".

The ICJ's eventual judgement may be months in coming. Until that time, the US may not carry out the executions.

The five are among 51 Mexicans on death row in the US who were not told after arrest that they were entitled to assistance from Mexican consulates - in violation of the 1963 Vienna Convention.

All five are currently on death row in Texas.

While the US consulate does not get involved if Americans are arrested abroad for violating local laws, what if five Texans were sentenced to death after a faulty trial? (Trafalgar Square restaurants aside, Texas is a state and therefore does not have its own consulate, so the analogy is incomplete, but I'm trying to point out that Texas is glossing over the root of the IJC's claim)

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Barry Artiste

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 06:10 on July 17th, 2008

jordan, I like this story. It's good stuff.

René

at 08:55 on July 17th, 2008

I find this troubling. The Mexican government wishes to interfere in the criminal punishment of illegal immigrants who committed horrifying crimes in our country. One raped and murdered two teenage girls. What the others did is not mentioned. According to some reports I've seen, the Mexican government actually encourages criminals to sneak in here, now they object to the punishment for the crimes they've committed here. And not only that, they've appealed to the UN and ICJ to interfere in our justice system. The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration, a study by the Violent Crimes Institute of crimes by illegals, show almost a million sex crimes and murders from January 1999 through April 2006.

Karen Hatter

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 09:15 on July 17th, 2008

Jordan, I like this story. It's good stuff.

everchanging

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 13:47 on July 17th, 2008

jordan, I like this story. It's good stuff. Without the intervention of ICJ (International Court of Justice) I wonder if these individual would be here today. If this happened to a U.S. citizen in some other country - the U.S. would be screaming from the highest hill.

Why is this not construed (considered) as a misrepresentation of a justice, a mistrial or miscarriages of justice out right by the laws of the U.S. and through out the ruling as so. Double standards should not exist in any state within the U.S. for individual from from another country. When we as nation would not allow or tolerate this actions by another country and would use the Vienna Convention ruling and any other means possible to provide a fair trial for one of our own citizen.

I will give Bush credit for trying also to get a review.