AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, the London-based human rights group, yesterday rapped the ruling People's National Party (PNP) for proposing to resume hanging if it is returned to office, suggesting that it was a ploy offering "to kill for votes."

The promise to resume hanging is contained in the PNP's election manifesto which was made public on Monday.

PNP President and Prime Minister P.J. Patterson at a press briefing at the party's Old Hope Road headquarters Tuesday, gave a commitment to amend the Constitution so hangings could resume. He urged bi-partisan support on the matter.

He also accused the Judicial Committee of the United Kingdom-based Privy Council of thwarting efforts by Caribbean Governments to effect the death penalty for heinous murders. The Prime Minister is seeking to overturn the 1993 Pratt and Morgan ruling by the Privy Council which, he claimed, had prevented hangings locally. The last hanging took place in Jamaica in 1988.

But, in a sharp response yesterday, Amnesty accused the PNP of using the death penalty as a re-election ploy. It urged the Government to keep the death penalty out of politics.

The watchdog group implored the Government to "turn away from offering to kill for votes, and show human rights leadership by explaining to the Jamaican public why the country cannot return to the use of hanging."

It said "electoral promises should be about improving the lives and protecting the rights of Jamaican citizens, rather than destroying human lives and undermining the most fundamental human rights."

Amnesty's statement said: "The return of hanging to Jamaica would be a retrograde step and do nothing to lessen the prevalence of violent crime."

It said it that while it understood the anger felt by Jamaican citizens at the appalling levels of violent crime suffered by the society it, nonetheless, was urging the Government not to pander to this anger by promising the resumption of executions in its election manifesto and to keep the death penalty out of politics in the upcoming elections.

The PNP, in its manifesto, made a commitment to amend the Constitution in an attempt to nullify previous court rulings that have prevented executions.

"In what appears to be an alarming regional trend, the Governments of Belize and Barbados are also currently attempting to pass similar laws," Amnesty said in its statement. In Barbados, the Opposition has reportedly supported the Government on the matter.

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

According to Amnesty, concerns about a possible return to the use of capital punishment were heightened Tuesday by an attack by Mr. Patterson on the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the final court of appeal for Jamaica. He stated: "In one decision after another, the Privy Council has simply been making it impossible for the law (executions) to be carried out. Its actions are undermining the very foundation of our legal system."

In a counter-argument, the human rights group argued that the Privy Council had found that the constitutional rights of Jamaican prisoners have been violated in numerous cases. In pointing to 10 executions in Trinidad and Tobago in 1999 and two in the Bahamas in 2000, Amnesty dismissed claims by Mr. Patterson that the Privy Council had prevented executions from taking place.

"Rather than attacking the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council for not allowing executions to proceed, the Government of Jamaica should ensure that the constitutional rights of those facing death at the hands of the State are protected," Amnesty said.