Amnesty International launches campaign against US

Accra (Greater Accra) 19 May ?99

Amnesty International, a United States-based human rights group, on Tuesday launched a campaign against racism and death penalty.

The campaign, which kicks against the use of the death penalty as a deterrent to offenders, vehemently condemned the United States in particular and other developing countries for sticking to this form of punishment.

It described death penalty as inhuman, cruel and violation of the rights to life.

Mr Pierre Sane, General Secretary of Amnesty International who launched the campaign at a press conference in Accra, said there is no scientific proof that the death penalty has reduced crime in any part of the world.

He also outdoored a report, "United States of America Rights For All - Killing With Prejudice: Race and the Death Penalty," which criticises the US Government and others for carrying out the death penalty and calls on authorities in that country to abolish it.

The report said racial discrimination remains deeply ingrained in the US legal system.

It said prejudices of police, jurors, judges and prosecutors are the by-products of racial stereotyping.

Mr Sane said: "Amnesty International unconditionally opposes the death penalty under all circumstances."

The death penalty in the US is applied disproportionately based on race, ethnicity and social status.

There are prejudices against the African American community in the US, Mr Sane noted, saying that blacks and other minority groups are victims of such prejudices.

He called on Africans and Africans in the Diaspora to help and join the crusade against the death penalty.

Mr Sane also urged African governments using the death sentence as punishment to stop the practice.