On January 26, the Privy Council ruled on constitutional...

On January 26, the Privy Council ruled on constitutional motions brought by Darrin Roger Thomas and Haniff Hilaire, who were both under sentence of death in Trinidad and Tobago, stating "that to carry out the death sentences imposed on the men before the final disposal of their respective applications to the Inter-American Commission and Court on Human Rights would be a breach of their constitutional rights." The court therefore stayed their executions. Thomas was convicted in 1993 of murdering a taxi driver. Hilaire was sentenced to death in 1991 for the murder of the husband of his friend's lover. The Government however scheduled their executions in 1998, despite the fact that the Inter-American Commission had not finished considering their cases. The Inter-American Court on Human Rights ruled in August that to execute them would "create an irremediable situation incompatible with the object and purpose of the American Convention on Human Rights." Saul Lehrfreund, a prominent human rights lawyer, welcomed the judgment and said: "There is judicial recognition from the Privy Council that applications to international human rights tribunals should be fully determined before any execution takes place. The status of the Inter-American Commission and the Inter-American Court has been regarded as a critical avenue of redress for violation of human rights." Thomas and Hilaire have been represented by lawyers from two London firms acting pro bono - Lovell, White, Durrant and Simmons. While the decision was welcomed by human rights campaigners, it was unpopular in Trinidad and other Caribbean countries where politicians support the death penalty as a way of curbing rising crime rates.