"The rights of Texas, Mexico and Americans jailed abroad," is the title of Tim Johnson's post at his Mexico unmasked blog on the McClatchy DC Bureau website. He's the Mexico bureau chief for McClatchy Newspapers.
Pity the poor American who ends up in jail abroad.
If Texas gives a lethal injection to Humberto Leal Garcia on Thursday, after failing to notify Mexican consular officers when he was arrested, then certainly foreign countries will feel free to give Americans a dose of their own medicine.
Some 2,000 Americans are arrested and locked up abroad each year, according to this article, and some of them are given bizarre punishments. Remember Michael P. Fay, the Missouri youth sentenced to caning in 1994 in Singapore for theft and vandalism? Then there are the Americans who have been held in Myanmar, Syria, Iran or North Korea.
Dozens of Americans are probably in jails in Mexico. Read about two of them here. Many of them are likely guilty. But certainly it helps if U.S. consular officers can be notified when they are arrested, visit them in prison and ascertain facts about their cases.
Mexico has spent a lot of money and time on Leal, 38, accused of the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl in 1994. He is one of 57 Mexicans on death row in the United States. El Universal says the Secretariat of Foreign Relations has spent $10.5 million just to one Tucson law firm for the defense of its nationals on death row.
At Talking Points Memo DC, Thomas Lane post, "Will Perry Order Last-Minute Halt To Controversial Execution?"
For a convicted murderer, Humberto Leal Garcia seems to have plenty of powerful people in his corner. In the last few days appeals for delaying the execution of this death row inmate have come from the Mexican ambassador, various UN officials and even the Obama administration's Solicitor-General.
However, it's not really Mr. Leal they're defending, but a point of international law; a point that many say the US is obliged to uphold, and which Texas Governor Rick Perry will violate if he doesn't halt the killing.
And:
The right to consular access, then, is the key here. Neither the Obama administration nor the international officials are saying Mr. Leal is innocent. What they are saying is that his case should be the subject of a review to determine whether Mexican assistance could have changed his sentence.
They're backed by a 2004 ruling from the International Court of Justice. That specifically requested such a review for Mr. Leal and fifty other Mexican nationals like him. These officials say if Texas proceeds with the execution, violating this ruling and showing disregard for the original treaty, then it could have "serious repercussions." Relations with Mexico would certainly be damaged. More worryingly, they claim, it could encourage other nations to show a similar disdain for allowing consular access when Americans find themselves in legal difficulties abroad.
"Humberto Leal Execution Raises Thorny International Issues," by David Dayen at FireDogLake.
I would imagine that the perspective of the White House is that this is less about Leal than the precedent it sets for US nationals abroad. The Vienna Convention on the arrest of foreign nationals would be violated by this execution, although it wouldn’t be the first time. In 2008, in a separate Texas case, Jose Medellin was executed after conviction for murder, even though his lawyers raised the Vienna Convention issue as well. The Leal case has been more publicized, and goes back to a 2005 ruling in the International Court of Justice. They said that Leal needed a new hearing to see if his consular rights were violated by being denied access to the Mexican consulate at the time of his arrest. George W. Bush agreed with that ruling, but the Supreme Court negated it.
The hopes that they will stay the execution of Leal today rest on the notion by the US solicitor general that Congress has pending legislation to allow this kind of consular rights review, bringing the country in line with the Vienna Convention. I’m wondering if the solicitor general has seen Congress operate lately. There’s no such thing as “pending” legislation there anymore. In fact, this law has been introduced and failed twice before. So far, lower courts rejected the stay.
Texas Governor Rick Perry appears to have no interest in a reprieve while the international issues are sorted out, especially given that he may run for President, and wouldn’t want anything resembling compassion on his record heading into a GOP primary.
"Mexican national set for execution in Texas, despite treaty concerns," by Jason Ukman at the Washington Post.
The Obama administration urged the Supreme Court on Friday to delay the execution, saying that if it were carried out, it would affect “foreign-policy interests of the highest order.” The Mexican ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan, has also requested a reprieve for Leal based on concerns about legal representation.
The breach of international obligations would “have serious repercussions for United States foreign relations, law-enforcement and other cooperation with Mexico, and the ability of American citizens traveling abroad to have the benefits of consular assistance in the event of detention,” Solicitor General Donald B.Verrilli, Jr. wrote in an amicus brief filed with the court.
Despite the pleas, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Tuesday rejected Leal’s request for a delay.
Three years ago, Texas executed another Mexican national on death row despite international entreaties. Jose Ernesto Medellin, who also had not been informed of his right to access consular officials, was put to death following pleas for a stay by the Bush administration, which also cited U.S. treaty obligations.
One more current Leal post before turning to news of the past week - and that will include a roundup of Leal case news, also.
Earlier coverage begins with the preceding post. For more on the case, and a petition, go to the Humberto Leal website.
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