Call for stay of execution on Mexicans in US

MEXICO yesterday called for urgent stays of execution for 51 Mexicans on US death row as it opened a World Court case arguing the United States had violated their “life or death” rights to consular help.

Mexico says US officials breached an international treaty by failing to inform the Mexicans of their right to consular assistance after their arrests.

In the highest-level bout of a lengthy fight with the US over the treaty, Mexico wants the International Court of Justice to rule the convicts should be retried because their rights were denied.

But before the Hague-based court considers the merits of the case likely to take years Mexico wants an injunction forbidding the US from executing any Mexican nationals or fixing execution dates for them.

Juan Manuel Gomez Robledo, lead counsel for Mexico, told the UN court the rights of Mexico and its nationals under the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations were systematically breached by the US.

"These repeated violations are particularly perturbing given that they have as a consequence the sentencing of an individual to death," said Mr Robledo.

In its court application, Mexico argued communication with consular officials was crucial.

"It is Mexico's experience that the involvement of consular officers can make the difference between life and death for a Mexican national facing capital charges," it said.

The case concerns 54 Mexican nationals held in 10 states. But three of them are in Illinois, whose governor this month of commuted the sentences of everyone on the state's death row, declaring the execution system "broken".

"Executions will be carried out unless the court grants the measures Mexico is seeking," said Sandra Babcock, a lawyer for Mexico, adding that one of the prisoners could be executed in as little as a month if the World Court did not intervene.

But the US said Mexico had neither proved its rights under the Vienna Convention had been harmed nor that there was an urgent need for the emergency injunction Mexico sought.

Such an injunction would interfere with the United States' sovereign right to administer its criminal justice system, it argued.