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U.S. Quits Foreign Inmate Accord Over Death Penalty Thu Mar 10, 2005 12:44 PM ET http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7868062 By Saul Hudson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has withdrawn from an accord that lets an international court decide disputes over foreign inmates, an agreement U.S. death penalty opponents have been using to fight death row cases. The decision followed an International Court of Justice ruling last year that ordered new hearings for 51 Mexican death row inmates because U.S. authorities did not tell them they could consult diplomats from their own country right after their arrests. The withdrawal was likely to anger Mexico, which opposes the U.S. death penalty, on the day Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice left for a visit to the southern U.S. neighbor. The United States initially backed the Vienna Convention protocol, hoping it would further protect its citizens detained abroad. But its withdrawal reflects a determination to counteract international pressure over the U.S. death penalty. "We are protecting against future International Court of Justice judgments that might similarly interfere in ways we did not anticipate when we joined the optional protocol," State Department spokesman Steve Pike said. President Bush, a staunch defender of the death penalty, will comply with previous rulings of the court, also known as the World Court. Washington will also continue to abide by the 1969 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations requiring it to tell foreigners they have the right to see a diplomat. Pulling out of the related protocol would leave disputes over foreign inmates in the hands of U.S. courts, eliminating what the Bush administration sees as outside interference. Bush quickly won a reputation abroad in his first term for a go-it-alone approach to foreign policy when he rejected the Kyoto international treaty on the environment. And while he has stressed greater cooperation with the international community since his re-election in November, he remains leery of such bodies as the international court, opposing its use most recently to deal with atrocities in Sudan. The death penalty is contentious in the United States and widely unpopular abroad but the inmate access issue has particularly caused tensions between the Bush administration and Mexico. Bush agreed in February to comply with the World Court decision on the 51 Mexican death row inmates, whose cases were taken up by capital punishment opponents. The U.S. government previously left it up to the states to decide what to do regarding the Mexicans, whose cases were taken up by capital punishment opponents. The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on March 28 in the case of Mexican Jose Medellin, who was convicted of murder during a sexual assault and sentenced to death in 1994 in Texas. "All these people have the right to raise their issues in court," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters traveling with Rice to Mexico where she will meet Mexican President Vicente Fox. All rights reserved. =========+========= FEEDBACK? http://nativenewsonline.org/Guestbook/guestbook.cgi GIVE FOOD: THE HUNGERSITE http://www.thehungersite.com/ Reprinted under Fair Use http://nativenewsonline.org/fairuse.htm =========+========= Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Native News Online a Service of Barefoot Connection Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Nat-International/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
