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This News Service is posted by the
International Secretariat of Amnesty International,
1 Easton Street, London WC1X 8DJ
(Tel +44-71-413-5500, Fax +44-71-956-1157)
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News Service 26/96


AI INDEX: AMR 35/05/96
12 FEBRUARY 1996

GUYANA: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNS  RESUMPTION OF
HANGINGS

Amnesty International was appalled to learn that the first
hanging since September 1990 has taken place in Guyana today,
following the government~s January announcement that hangings
were to resume.

      Ayube Kahn, who was arrested for the murder of a
schoolboy while trying to steal his bicycle in 1990, was
executed on Monday 12 February 1996, following the issuing of
a death warrant a few days earlier. Rockliffe Ross, who had
been charged with murder in 1989 and was also issued with a
death warrant on the same day as Ayube Kahn, was given a
seven-day reprieve.

      ~While we express the utmost sympathy for the victims
of violent crime, the use of the death penalty never serves
any valid purpose but merely brutalizes the society which
uses it,~ Amnesty International said.

      Death warrants were issued on 1 February for two
others, Abdool Saleem Yasseen and Noel Thomas, who received
stays of execution pending a constitutional motion arguing
that the length of time and conditions on death row amount to
~inhuman or degrading treatment~. Amnesty International is
also concerned about a possible miscarriage of justice in
this case. Their appeal continues this week.

      There are currently a total of 18 people on death row
in Guyana. Amnesty International fears that further death
warrants may be issued and that the executions of the three
men who have already received them could go ahead. The
organization is calling on the Guyana Government to commute
all death sentences immediately.

      Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all
cases as a violation of the right to life and the right not
to be subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or
punishment.

      The organization believes that the overwhelming
conclusion from many studies on the issue is that there is no
evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively
than other punishment. There is also, as in this case, the
appalling risk of executing someone who may be innocent.

ENDS\








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