RAMESH MAHARAJ HANGING BILL 2000 Peter Richards PORT OF SPAIN, May 18 2000 (IPS) - The Trinidad and Tobago government is gearing itself up for a long battle in its bid to re-introduce legislation which would have the effect of speeding up the execution of convicted killers. The Basdeo Panday administration has indicated its willingness to fight anyone seeking to oppose the re-introduction of the Constitution Amendment No 2 Bill, which was defeated in Parliament two years ago. The government has not said whether there will be changes to the original legislation. The previous bill had said “where a person has been convicted of a criminal offence in which the sentence of death has been imposed, and the time for appealing against the conviction of death has expired, or a petition or application to the Privy Council by the person has been refused, abandoned or withdrawn or dismissed, and the death warrant has been signed by the President, the High court shall have no jurisdiction to hear an application against the execution of the death warrant.” Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, a former human rights advocate, has laid the groundwork for the new battle by launching a scathing attack on regional and international human rights groups, which he accused of having “no respect for our Constitution”. “To serve their own ends, they would override this country’s Constitution, while the entire society is placed at risk as convicted murderers shield behind these human rights groups and their lobbies to escape the death penalty,” says Maharaj, who once headed a human rights organisation here before joining the government ipsnews.net/2000/05/rights-trinidad-and-tobago-lets-hang-em-all/
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 11:47:12 +0000
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