Caribbean penal laws face change

Hundreds of death row prisoners could win a reprieve

Hundreds of death row prisoners in the Caribbean may win reprieves if a hearing rules that the mandatory death sentence is unconstitutional.

A London Privy Council hearing, which began on Monday, will rule on whether state judges should reserve the sentence for the most serious murders.

The hearing follows a ruling last November that Trinidad's mandatory death sentence was unconstitutional.

The council is the final appeal court for many former British colonies.

The controversial hearing has been deemed so politically sensitive that nine law lords - compared with the usual five - will be used for the first time, according to the Guardian newspaper.

'Contradictory laws'

Four men - Charles Matthews, from Trinidad, Lennox Boyce and Jeffrey Joseph, from Barbados, and Lambert Watson, from Jamaica - will appeal against the death penalty on Monday, the paper says.

They will argue there were mitigating factors in their case but judges could not take them into account and had no choice but to impose the death penalty, the paper says.

Privy Council Judicial Committee Founded in 1833 Deals with a dozen capital cases a year Also acts as final civil appeal court for Mauritius, Tuvalu and Bermuda Has power to overrule judges in Isle of Man and Channel Islands Deals with appeals against General Medical Council and other professional bodies Handles constitutional appeals regarding laws created by Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly

If successful, up to 300 prisoners on death row in Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica will have to have sentences reviewed.

Back in November, Privy Council rulings on the two death penalty appeals in Trinidad allowed the island's state judges.

Convicted murderers Balkissoon Roodal and Haroon Khan had appealed to the Privy Council saying Trinidad and Tobago's laws were contradictory.

One law states murderers "shall suffer death" while another says capital punishment should be the maximum penalty but not mandatory, according to British defence lawyers working on an unpaid basis.

The council ruled murder cases were too varied to carry a mandatory sentence and also noted the possibility of executing someone who had been falsely convicted.

The new Privy Council appeal is the culmination of a six-year campaign for constitutional change in Caribbean law by the British lawyers.

'Hanging court'

In July 2002 the 15 members of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) applied for a $100m (£62m) loan to set up a Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to replace the Privy Council, a scheme that is yet to come to fruition.

Caribbean leaders say the court will rid them of one of the last vestiges of colonialism.

A spokesman for Jamaica's attorney general said the Privy Council was "out of step" with public opinion in the Caribbean.

But critics say the CCJ will be a "hanging court" with judges appointed by governments keen to clear their death rows.