Amnesty International Report 1998 - Trinidad and Tobago

(This report covers the period January-December 1997) About 104 people remained under sentence of death, including 17 who were sentenced to death during the year. At least seven people were sentenced to corporal punishment. In October the government issued instructions setting strict time limits on death-row prisoners' petitions to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and to the UN Human Rights Committee. If the time limits are not met by the prisoner or the international body, the instructions permit the government to proceed with execution, even while the petition remains pending.   About 104 people remained under sentence of death, including 17 who were sentenced to death during the year. Although no executions took place, a warrant was issued for the execution of Gerald Wilson in May; the execution was stayed pending his further appeal. Gerald Wilson, however, died in prison in October. The government commissioned reports on the possibility of extending the death penalty as a sentence for drug-trafficking and rape. At least seven people were sentenced to corporal punishment, in addition to terms of imprisonment. Reports indicated that several people sentenced to corporal punishment in previous years were flogged or whipped. After a retrial ordered by the Court of Appeal, Myra Bhagwansingh – who was the first woman to have received a sentence of corporal punishment (see Amnesty International Report 1997) – was again convicted of causing grievous bodily harm. She was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment, but not to corporal punishment. There were reports of fatal shootings by police in disputed circumstances. In August Marcus Antoine, Lawrence Jobity and Stephan Perreira were killed by members of the police Anti-Kidnapping Squad. The incident was investigated by an Assistant Police Commissioner; inquest hearings were scheduled to begin in 1998. There were developments in cases of fatal shootings by police in disputed circumstances in previous years. In July the inquest into the death in 1990 of Njisane Omowale, a student, concluded. He was killed during a police raid on the home of a relative of Yasin Abu Bakr a few days after the unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the government by members of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen in 1990. The inquest found that a felony had been committed, but could not determine by whom and sent the case back to the Police Commissioner for further investigation. In August, following an inquest which had lasted more than six years, a coroner recommended that a member of the police be indicted for the unlawful killing in 1990 of Franklyn John. Amnesty International expressed concern about sentences of corporal punishment – a cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment. It asked for information about the imposition of sentences, urged the government to ensure that no sentences of corporal punishment were carried out in future, and called on the government to repeal legislation allowing corporal punishment. In November the organization urged the authorities not to extend the scope of the death penalty. It reminded the authorities of their obligation, under the American Convention on Human Rights, not to extend the scope of the death penalty. It expressed concern about the time limits imposed on death-row prisoners' petitions to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Committee, which denied prisoners the effective recourse to redress for alleged human rights violations which such petitions are intended to afford. It also asked for information about developments in the cases of Njisane Omowale, Franklyn John, Marcus Antoine, Lawrence Jobity and Stephan Perreira and urged the government to submit its overdue third periodic report to the UN Human Rights Committee.