[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 24



PHILIPPINES:

Arroyo signs law abolishing the death penalty


President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed Republic Act 9346 on Saturday and
abolished the death penalty.

A tired-looking Arroyo signed the measure in front of an audience composed
of senators, congressmen, European diplomats, religious organizations, and
non government groups, less than an hour after leaving St. Luke's Medical
Center in Quezon City.

She had been confined at the hospital since Thursday night for acute
infectious diarrhea.

Under RA 9346, the penalties of life imprisonment and reclusion perpetua
replace the death penalty. Introductory remarks made before the signing
(not the President as posted earlier) said the law's enactment marked
the"end of the era of retributive justice."

Persons convicted of offenses punishable by reclusion perpetua, or whose
sentences will be reduced to reclusion perpetua, shall not be eligible for
parole under Republic Act 4013, or the Indeterminate Sentence Law.

An estimated 1,200 death row inmates will benefit from the death penalty's
abolition.

Although the 1987 Constitution abolished the death penalty, Congress
restored capital punishment in late 1993 for heinous crimes such as
murder, child rape and kidnapping.

Seven people have been executed between 1999 and 2000 before a government
moratorium that was prompted mostly by pressure from the dominant Roman
Catholic Curch, the European Union and human rights groups.

Papal nuncio Archbishop Fernando Filoni, said Saturday was "a very
important day because [the] death penalty is abolished."

"We can't speak of human rights when [the] death penalty is enforced,"
Filoni said.

The signing of RA 9346 is Arroyos only scheduled event for the day.

Presidential Chief of Staff Michael Defensor said they had canceled all
the Presidents six "short working meetings" to allow her to rest.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told reporters she was "taking it easy"
and "making preparations" for her trip.

Arroyo leaves Sunday morning for official visits to Italy, Vatican City
and Spain.

On her itinerary is an audience with Pope Benedict XVI, who she will
formally inform of the death penaltys abolition.

(source: Philippine Inquirer)






MEXICO:

Mexico to fight 'Railroad Killer' execution


The Mexican government announced today that it plans to fight the
execution in the United States of a Mexican man known as the "Railroad
Killer" based on the argument that he is mentally unstable.

Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez has sent a letter to the
Texas parole board opposing the execution by injection of Angel Maturino
Resendiz, 46, whose defense lawyers have said is mentally unfit because he
allegedly believes he is half human and half angel.

The Foreign Relations Department also is preparing legal protests against
the execution, scheduled for Tuesday, the agency said in a news release.

"According to international law and the current practice in the States,
mentally ill people should not be subject to the death penalty," the news
release said.

Resendiz was convicted of the rape-slaying of Claudia Benton, a Houston,
Texas-area physician killed in her home a week before Christmas 1998.
Resendiz also has been linked to 8 slayings in Texas, 2 each in Illinois
and Florida, and 1 each in Kentucky, California and Georgia.

He became known as the "railroad killer" because he hopped on freight
trains and committed random acts of carnage around the U.S. His crimes put
him on FBI's Ten Most Wanted list.

A Texas judge ruled this week that Resendiz was mentally competent to be
executed.

(source: Associated Press)