Amnesty International called on Lebanese President...

Amnesty International called on Lebanese President Emile Lahoud to immediately halt the imminent execution of three men, due to be put to death on January 17. The rights organization also urged the president to take the necessary steps to commute the death sentences handed down to the three men, Ahmad Mansour, Badih Hamadeh and Remy Antoin Zaatar, and to 24 others. "The finality and cruelty inherent in the death penalty, and the lack of evidence showing it to be a deterrent to violent crimes, make it an inappropriate and unacceptable response to crime," said Amnesty International in a communiqué. "Beams of hope lit by a de facto five-year moratorium on the death penalty have been dimmed by Lebanon's decision to kill these men," said Amnesty International. "Their lives and those of 24 others under sentence of death whose fate may well be similar are now at the gravest risk imaginable, and no effort should be spared to save them."