WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amnesty International took aim at the United States on Wednesday for its death penalty policies and ranked the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole among the world's "human rights scoundrels."
With convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh set for execution on June 11 and two of four men convicted of bombing U.S. embassies in East Africa now possible candidates for the death penalty, Amnesty accused the United States of abdicating its global role as a leader on human rights.
"America's continuing use of the death penalty is another example of the failure of human rights leadership," said William Schulz, the U.S. director of the international group which has its headquarters in London.
Schulz was speaking at a news conference to release a global report on rights abuses in the year 2000.
"It is no wonder that the U.S. was ousted from the United Nations Human Rights Commission," Schulz said. "That defeat was precipitated in part by waning U.S. influence and double standards practices by various administrations and Congresses in the U.S."
He said the United States "stands in the same shameful death penalty league as China, Iran and Saudi Arabia."
These four countries account for 88 percent of all known state killings, Schulz said, noting that they go counter to an international trend: more than 60 countries have abolished the death penalty since the United States resumed executions in 1977.
Amnesty's report also criticized the execution of U.S. prisoners who were under 18 when they committed crimes, the mentally impaired and those who got inadequate legal representation.
Responding to the report, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said, "We fundamentally disagree ... with the assertion in the report that the United States has become an impediment to the advancement of international human rights."
"I think anybody who has followed the cause of human rights around the world over the years and decades will realize that the United States has been and will remain the leading advocate for human rights throughout the world," Reeker said.
HEROES AND SCOUNDRELS
In its list of human rights heroes and scoundrels, the human rights watchdog cited the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole "for operating a flawed and unfair review of death penalty cases, reviewing clemency petitions in secret and voting by fax or telephone without due process procedures."
The group noted that Texas executed 40 prisoners in 2000, and imposed the death penalty 150 times during the five-year governorship of George W. Bush, who was elected U.S. president in November.
In the heroes column, Illinois Gov. George Ryan drew praise for declaring a moratorium on the death penalty "in light of evidence that wrongly convicted people stand a real chance of being executed."
The year 2000 saw 85 U.S. prisoners executed in 14 states, bringing the total number of executions to 683 since the Supreme Court lifted a moratorium on the death penalty in 1976.
The only other U.S. entity on the heroes-and-scoundrels list was Unocal Corp., a California-based energy company criticized for giving financial support to the military government of Myanmar through its business operations there.
Unocal's Web site, http:/www.unocal.com/myanmar/index.htm, defends the company's Yadana natural gas project in Myanmar and criticized "activist groups" for "spreading false and hurtful allegations" about the company and its project.
"Unocal does not defend the actions and policies of the government of Myanmar. We do defend our reputation and the integrity of the Yadana project," the company said on the site.
Besides the death penalty, Amnesty criticized the United States for cases of police brutality, racial discrimination, torture and ill treatment in prisons and jails, abuse of incarcerated children and maltreatment of women prisoners. |
