UK: MPs' call to stop Manuel Valle's execution

A committee of MPs has joined the campaign calling for the state of Florida to commute the death sentence of a Cuban national who has been on death row for 3 decades.

The All-party parliamentary group on the death penalty chairwoman Baroness Stern has written to Governor Rick Scott urging him to stop the execution of 63-year-old Manuel Valle.

The MPs joined faith leaders and the European Union's ambassador to the US opposing the execution to call on Governor Scott to grant clemency and commute Mr Valle's sentence to life imprisonment.

The MPs stated that the failure to grant a clemency process "violates international minimum standards of due process."

They also cited concerns over the use of new execution drug pentobarbital, which medical experts claim "may cause extreme and unnecessary pain and suffering" to Mr Valle.

The issue of the "extraordinary length" of Mr Valle's 33-year incarceration on death row was also of concern, they noted, saying it amounted to "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and violates international human rights law."

The Washington-DC based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has urged the US to stay the execution while it investigates a range of concerns, including the apparent failure to provide Mr Valle with consular access which it is obliged to do under the Vienna convention.

Legal action charity Reprieve investigator Katherine Bekesi said: "Governor Scott must not ignore the growing chorus of international opposition to the impending execution of Manuel Valle.

"To proceed with an execution when there have been so many legal violations in this case would irreparably damage the global reputation of both Florida and the US."

Source: Morning Star, August 27, 2011

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