USA - The top United Nations human rights official has appealed to the Texas governor to commute the death sentence of Humberto Leal

The top United Nations human rights official has appealed to the Texas  governor to commute the death sentence of Humberto Leal, a Mexican national scheduled to be executed for murder next week. The plea from Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, is also supported by 2 UN rights experts who have urged the US Government to stop the execution for the same reason: the convicted murderer was not granted access to a Mexican consular official at the time of his arrest. Ms. Pillay wrote directly to Texas Governor Rick Perry asking him to order a life sentence for Humberto Leal Garcia, who was condemned to death for the 1994 murder of a 16-year-old girl. “Over and above the normal UN position opposing the death penalty, this case raises particular concerns, as Mr. Leal Garcia was not granted consular acc, which, as a foreign national, is his right under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.” Meanwhile, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, and the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan Méndez, called on the US Government to cancel the execution. “If the scheduled execution of Mr. Leal García goes ahead, the United States Government will have implemented a death penalty after a trial that did not comply with due process rights,” Mr. Heyns said. “This will be tantamount to an arbitrary deprivation of life." Mr. Heyns and Mr. Méndez are independent, non-paid specialist reporting to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.