Rowley not afraid of fallout from vote against "hanging bill"

Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley on Monday dismissed suggestions by the government that his party would pay a high political price for its refusal to support the "hanging bill". And he accused the government of trying to bully the opposition.

"They think crime is politics and we keep telling them that crime is not politics. In six months' time they can come back with a different attitude and a different bill," he said.

"The Government's attitude and behaviour is not what is required in a situation like this. The Government needs Opposition support. You don't disregard our point of view and then try to bully us into voting." He said the Opposition's advice on the matter was not in agreement with what the government was doing.

He said the Constitution does not give a convicted murderer the right to appeal to an international human rights body, adding that the bill would have given that right to make it part of the entrenched provisions.

He explained that if the right to petition the international bodies is part of the constitution and the bodies do not respond then the abolition of the death penalty would take place by the commission not responding to you.

He said the government was giving convicted killers a constitutional right for the first time to appeal to a human rights body.

Rowley said the Opposition is prepared to support a separate law that does not require tampering with the constitution and said the Government is not prepared to "listen to reason" and another point of view". He charged that the the Government did not want the bill to pass. 

Rowley said the Government could at any time use its majority to pass a law categorising murders. Hover he said "they have taken the position that they will bully us into supporting the bill because they are looking for a campaign issue. And we are not afraid of a campaign.

"They think they have a campaign baton with which to beat the PNM, because we vote against death penalty. Death penalty is the law right now," he said.

Editors note:

Although there is no constitutional right that allows a convicted killer to appeal or petition human rights bodies there are conventions that bind Trinidad and Tobago to petitions. What the government was trying to do was to ensure that where petitions are made by killers the process cannot take longer that 18 months.

A petition is not an appeal and the bill was not giving convicted killers to the constitutional right to appeal to rights groups since such organisations do not have legal jurisdiction in Trinidad and Tobago.