IACHR concerned about mandatory hanging

And the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) says while the Inter-American Convention on Human rights does not prohibit the death penalty, it’s concerned about making executions mandatory for certain offences.



Executive Secretary of the IACHR, Dr Santiago Canton, says the convention only prohibits the death penalty in countries that did not have the death penalty at the time of ratification in 1978.



However, he says the commission is concerned about the mandatory nature of the sentence in some Caribbean countries like Jamaica.



Under Jamaica’s current law a person found guilty of committing capital murder is automatically sentenced to death.



Dr Canton says the commission is concerned that mandatory death penalty violates the due process of law and the Inter-American convention.