UN Rights Chief Says Gov. Perry Dropped Ball On Texas Execution

The State of Texas violated American human right commitments and international law by carrying out the execution of Humberto Leal Garcia, says the United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay.

Garcia, 38, was executed by lethal injection Thursday, hours after the Supreme Court rejected a stay of execution request from the White House. 

The Obama administration had voiced concern over the possible international repercussions of such a decision and had hoped delaying the execution would allow Congress to enact new legislation introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy last month,protecting foreign nationals right to consular access and notification.

“What the State of Texas has done in this case is imputable in law to the US and engages the United States’ international responsibility. I am very disappointed that neither the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles nor the Governor took steps open to them to prevent this breach of the US obligations under international law from occurring.” Pilay said in a statement released earlier today. 

Garcia was sentenced to death by a Texas court in1998 for the murder and rape of a 16 year old girl in San Antonio four years earlier. 

But UN rights officials maintain his trial did not comply with international due process rights because Garcia, a foreign national who had been living illegally in the US for years, should have been informed of his right to seek assistance from his consulate after the arrest. 

A 2004 decision by the International Court of Justice found that by failing to inform of his right to seek assistance from his consulate, state of Texas officials ignored Article 36 of the Vienna convention on Consular relations. 

“Today’s execution will undermine the role of the International Court of Justice, and its ramifications are likely to spread far beyond Texas” warned the UN Human Rights Chief.