Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 21:57:45 EST From: McClearyE@aol.com Subject: Fwd: FW: NEWS:------ARIZONA (fwd)U R G E N T A C T I O N A P P E A L
4 January 2001
EXTRA 01/01 Death penalty / Legal concern
USA (Arizona) Jose Jacobo Amaya Ruiz, Salvadoran national, aged 41
Jose Amaya Ruiz is due to be executed in Arizona on 18 January 2001. He was sentenced to death in 1986 for the murder of Kimberly Lopez, who was killed at her home on 28 March 1985. Amaya Ruiz, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, was employed by Lopez and her husband on their ranch near Tucson.
Since 1985, Jose Amaya Ruiz has been diagnosed as suffering from various mental illnesses, including bipolar disorder (manic depression) and paranoid schizophrenia. He suffers from auditory and visual hallucinations, delusions and paranoid ideation. He has been treated with anti-psychotic medication for more than a decade, although he has sometimes refused treatment, either because he believed that he was not ill or that the drugs were poison. In 1985, a psychologist for the state estimated Amaya Ruiz's IQ to be in the region of 65-75, indicating a learning disability.
Jose Amaya Ruiz has made numerous suicide attempts, both during pre-trial detention and since his conviction. He has also engaged in acts of self-mutilation with razor blades and other sharp objects. His behaviour has included banging his head, throwing urine and faeces, and spending weeks in his cell naked and surrounded by his own waste.
In 1999, a prison doctor concluded that Jose Amaya Ruiz understood neither the reason for, nor the reality of his death sentence, and was therefore legally insane and could not be executed. A second doctor, to whom Jose Amaya Ruiz explained that 'they don't kill people here, they just treat them badly', also said that the prisoner was incompetent for execution.
In 2000, Jose Amaya Ruiz was moved to hospital and remained under mental health care. On 30 August, a doctor at the hospital determined that Amaya Ruiz was competent to be executed. On 17 November, he was transferred back to a special psychiatric unit on death row. Amnesty International believes it violates medical ethics to treat a prisoner with a view to restoring competency for execution. American Medical Association policy states: 'When a condemned prisoner has been declared incompetent to be executed, physicians should not treat the prisoner for the purpose of restoring competence unless a commutation order is issued before treatment begins'.
Jose Amaya Ruiz is one of about 90 foreign nationals on death row in the USA. As in the majority of these cases, Jose Amaya Ruiz was not informed upon arrest of his right to contact his consulate for assistance. As such, the arresting authorities violated US obligations under international law in their failure to comply with the notification provisions of Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
Jose Amaya Ruiz is believed to have first come to the USA in 1984, the year before his arrest. The extent of his exposure to the war and political violence in El Salvador at the time he lived there is not known, both because his trial lawyer was unable to investigate this, and because his mental impairment renders him a poor reporter of his life history. Two of his brothers were killed in the violence, and he has recalled burying the dead in his village with his hands because he had no spade. His own body bears the scars of bullet wounds, as yet unexplained.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The United Nations Safeguards Guaranteeing Protection of the Rights of Those Facing the Death Penalty, adopted in 1984, prohibit the execution of prisoners 'who have become insane'. The US organization, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, opposes the use of the death penalty against defendants with serious mental disorders. The widely held belief that the execution of the mentally impaired flouts basic standards of justice and decency is reflected in a resolution adopted on 26 April 2000 by the UN Commission on Human Rights, urging all retentionist countries 'not to impose the death penalty on a person suffering from any form of mental disorder or to execute any such person'. It is nearly 12 years since the UN adopted a resolution recommending that UN member states eliminate the death penalty 'for persons suffering from mental retardation or extremely limited mental competence, whether at the stage of sentence or execution'.
In 1999, Arizona executed two German nationals, Karl and Walter LaGrand, who had not been advised of their consular rights, causing widespread international outrage. The German government took the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which heard arguments from the German and US governments in November 2000. The ICJ has yet to rule on the case.
The Arizona Governor can grant clemency if the clemency board recommends he or she do so, but can also ignore such a recommendation. In the case of Walter LaGrand, Governor Hull not only ignored an ICJ order for a stay of execution, but also the board's recommendation for a 60-day reprieve.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send faxes/express/airmail letters, in your own words, using the following guide: - acknowledging the seriousness of the crime for which Jose Amaya Ruiz was convicted and expressing sympathy for the family of Kimberly Lopez; - expressing concern that the State of Arizona is planning to execute Jose Amaya Ruiz despite his history of serious mental illness and evidence of mental retardation, in violation of international standards of justice; - arguing that it violates medical ethics to treat a prisoner with a view to restoring competency for execution, noting the American Medical Association's policy; - expressing concern that the arresting authorities violated international law when they failed to inform Jose Amaya Ruiz of his consular rights; - reminding the authorities of the damage done to the USA's reputation by the execution in Arizona of two German nationals in 1999; - calling for clemency and urging that Jose Amaya Ruiz's death sentence be commuted in the name of decency, compassion, and human rights, even in the event of a court-issued stay of execution.
APPEALS TO:
Kathyrn D. Brown, Chairperson Arizona Board of Executive Clemency 1645 West Jefferson, No. 326 Phoenix, AZ 85007 Fax: 1 602 542 5680 Salutation: Dear Chairperson
The Honorable Jane Hull Governor of Arizona 1700 West Washington Phoenix, Arizona 85007 Fax: 1 602 542 1381 E-mail: (via website) http://www.governor.state.az.us/feedback.html Salutation: Dear Governor
You may also write brief letters (not more than 250 words) to: The Editor, Arizona Republic, 120 East Van Buren St, PO Box 1950, Phoenix, AZ 85001 Fax: 1 602 271 8500. E-mail: via the newspaper's website: http://www.azcentral.com/opinions/letter.shtml
Letters to the Editor, Arizona Daily Star, PO Box 26887 Tucson, AZ 85726 Fax: 1 520 573 4141. E-mail: letters@azstarnet.com Letters to the Editor, Tucson Citizen, PO Box 26767, Tucson, AZ 85726, USA Fax: + 1 520 573-4569. E-mail: letters@tucsoncitizen.com
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
This information is from Amnesty International's research headquarters in London, England. A.I. is an independent worldwide movement working for the international protection of human rights. It seeks the release of people detained because of their beliefs, color, sex, ethnic origin, language or religious creed, provided they have not used nor advocated violence. These are termed prisoners of conscience. It works for fair and prompt trials for all political prisoners and works on behalf of such people detained without charge or trial. It opposes the death penalty, extra-judicial executions (political killings), 'disappearances' and torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of all prisoners without reservation. Amnesty International promotes awareness of and adherance to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other internationally recognized human rights instruments, the values enshrined in them and the indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights and freedoms.
Please do not repost this appeal to any part of the Internet without prior permission from Amnesty International. Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network Amnesty International USA PO Box 1270 Nederland CO 80466-1270 Email: sharriso@aiusa.org http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgact/ Phone: 303 258 1170 Fax: 303 258 7881
THE ABOLISH LIST This list uses TOPICS! For information on posting guidelines including how to use TOPICS and other important list info, see the FAQ at: http://dialup.oar.net/~Pcarelli/abolish/