Document - Barbados:Fear of imminent execution/Legal Concern

PUBLIC AI Index: AMR 15/001/2002

EXTRA 48/02 Fear of imminent execution/Legal Concern 28 June 2002

BARBADOS Michael McDonald Huggins (m) aged 27
Frederick Benjamin Atkins (m) aged 31
Lennox Ricardo Boyce (m) aged 25
Jeffrey Joseph (m) aged 27


Those named above are scheduled to be executed by hanging on 2 July. Their appeals for clemency were rejected by the local Mercy Committee earlier this week, despite the fact that legal appeals for all four men have not yet been completed. If carried out, the executions would violate international law and thus constitute murder.

Huggins was convicted for the 1999 murder of 21-year-old Stephen Ricardo Wharton. Atkins was sentenced to hang in July 2000 for the October 1998 murder of 20-year-old Sharmaine Hurley. Boyce and Joseph were sentenced to death for the killing of 22-year-old Marquelle Hippolyte on April 15, 1999.
The Court of Appeal affirmed the death sentences of all four on March 27 2002.

Lawyers acting for the men notified the government of their intention to file constitutional motions to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) in April 2002. This court, located in London, England, is currently Barbados' highest court of appeal.

Despite this, shortly after 3 p.m. on 27 June, Acting Chief Marshal Hugh Arthur read death warrants to the four at the Maximum Security at Glendairy Prisons, Barbados.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

International law states that the death penalty may only be carried out after a final judgment rendered by a competent court and that the death penalty may not be carried out pending any appeal or other recourse procedure relating to the pardon or commutation of sentence (UN Death Penalty safeguards, paragraph 8). Proceedings must guarantee the right of review of both the factual and legal aspects of the case, by a higher tribunal, composed of judges other than those who dealt with the case at first instance (UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Report, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1997/60,para. 2)

Barbados is a state party to the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the American Convention on Human Rights (American Convention). Both treaties state that all rights to appeal, recourse proceedings, including applications to international bodies, have been completed and requests for pardon and commutation must have been exhausted (Article 4(6) of the American Convention; Article 6(4) ICCPR).

The last hangings in Barbados took place in 1984 when Noel Ricardo Jordan, Melvin Inniss and Errol Mopsie Farrell were hanged.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your own language:
- expressing deep concern that Michael McDonald Huggins, Frederick Benjamin Atkins, Lennox Ricardo Boyce and Jeffrey Joseph are scheduled to be executed despite the fact that all four have notified the government of their intention to exercise their constitutional right of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and urging the government to refrain from execution;
- noting that the executions would violate Barbados' obligations under international law, including the ICCPR and the American Convention, which state that the death penalty may only be carried out after a final judgment by a competent court and that the death penalty may not be carried out pending any appeal or other recourse procedure relating to the pardon or commutation of sentence;
- noting that the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions has declared that officials must be instructed not to carry out an execution while any appeal or other procedure is pending;
- expressing deep concern at the intention to resume the use of the death penalty in Barbados after 18 years without executions and calling on the authorities not to take such a retrograde step;
- expressing sympathy for the victims of violent crime and their relatives.
APPEALS TO:

Governor-General
Sir Clifford Straughn Husbands
Governor General
Office of the Governor General
Government House
St Michael
Barbados
Telegrams: Governor General, Saint Michael, Barbados
Fax: + 1 246 228 0722
Salutation: Your Excellency

Attorney General
The Hon Mia A. Motley
Attorney General & Minister for Home Affairs
Frank Walcott Building
Cilloden Road, St Michael
Barbados
Telegrams: Attorney General, Christchurch, Barbados
Fax: + 1 246 228 5433
Email: attygen@caribsurf.com
Salutation: Dear Attorney General

Prime Minister
The Hon. Owen Arthur
Office of the Prime Minister
Government Headquarters
Bay Street, St Michael
Barbados
Telegrams: Prime Minister, St Michael, Barbados
Fax: + 1 246 436 9280
Salutation: Dear Prime Minister

COPIES TO:
Head Warden
Glendairy Prison
Her Majesty's Prison
Glendairy
Station Hill, St Michael
Barbados
Fax: + 1 246 435 2450
Salutation: Dear Head Warden

Newspaper
Barbados Nation
P.O. Box 1203
Bridgetown
St. Michael
Barbados
Email: nationnews@sunbeach.net
Fax: + 1 246 427 6968
Salutation: Dear Editor

and to diplomatic representatives of BARBADOS accredited to your country.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.

Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street, WC1X 0DW, London, United Kingdom