Posted on 08/05/2008 12:41:04 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AFP) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a last-minute appeal to the United States Tuesday to halt the scheduled execution of a Mexican national sentenced to death for murder in defiance of an International Court of Justice (ICJ) order.
Jose Ernesto Medellin, 33, was due to be executed by lethal injection at 2300 GMT in the state of Texas. He was convicted of the 1993 rape and murder of two teenagers and is one 51 Mexican nationals on death row in the United States.
Less than 12 hours before Medellin's planned execution, Ban called on the US government to abide by an ICJ ruling calling for the executions of all Mexican nationals to be suspended.
"All decisions and orders of the International Court of Justice must be respected by states," Ban warned on local television in Mexico City where he was attending a world AIDS conference.
"The United States should take every step to make sure the execution does not take place," he added, saying he had taken all the necessary steps to delay Medellin's execution, detailed in a letter to the United States and that he was "confident" his demands would be accepted.
Mexico has complained that its nationals on death row were not informed of their right to consular access and assistance during trial, a right under the Vienna Convention.
Medellin's family anxiously waited at the prison near Houston where the 33-year-old is due to be executed at 2300 GMT by lethal injection.
Medellin's request for a reprieve was unanimously turned down on Monday by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and his fate lies in the hands of Texas Governor Rick Perry.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
Kofi A. Annan (Ghana)
Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Egypt)
Kurt Waldheim (Austria)
U Thant (Myanmar)
Dag Hammarskjöld (Sweden)
Trygve Lie (Norway)
They all have funny names, so to hell with them.
Ooooooooooooooooo!!!!!! I’m so scared of the international court.
Oh, grow-up, thumbsucker!
Says who, Bucko?
Hang in there Perry...dont go ‘wobbly’ on us
Celebrate Cinco de Augusto!
He didn’t sound wobbly a couple days ago..
hope they use one of them mexican trucks to haul him home.. symbolism and all
Gee, I wonder if those two teenagers were informed of their right to consular access and assistance before Jose raped and killed them?
Come on, Texas, do NOT buckle.
Around here we'd give him a lollipop and dinner at the Govenor's mansion.
The Administration tried to stop the execution. SCOTUS denied the Federal government’s bid to negate Texas state law.
A red letter day, My Friends.
Did those two little girls have recourse to the american Consul when these barsteds destroyed them?
May I start the IV drip?
I missed that. Do you have a reference? I'd sure like to see that.
So...what do you think Johnny Sutton is going to do, exactly?
I would pay good money to see a bunch of blue helmets show up at the prison demanding to stop the execution.
Hell we could sell pay-per-view tickets for that. State Troopers and guards with batons and riot gear at the gates beating the hell out of some idiots trying to force their way in...
Paraphrasing Pres Andrew Jackson's statement to Chief Justice Marshall: "The International Court has made it's decision. Now let it enforce it"
The Constitution supercedes our foreign superiors? When did that happen?
How many divisions ya got Ban?
The scumbag deserves to die! If it was an electrocution, I'd volunteer to pull the switch. If it was a hanging, I'd buy the rope. If it was a firing squad, I'd supply the rifle and the ammo. As it is lethal injection, I'll volunteer a quart of my urine to give the fatal dose an extra kick!
Hold muh beer ... hey ya'll, watch this!
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