Seeking global justice

David McIntosh promotes the Law Society's ongoing work to uphold international human rights.

Becoming president has sharpened my appreciation of the important human rights campaigning activities of the Law Society, something which deserves to be widely appreciated.The Society's international human rights committee is chaired by Lucy Winskell and run by Mel James and enjoys close links with the Liberty and Justice organisations on common causes.

It produces a regular and necessary flow of letters addressed to heads of state, government ministers, chief justices, and in the US to state governors and others - including sometimes the president.

These letters plead for intervention and clemency in many cases where individuals (often lawyers) are being oppressed, imprisoned or sentenced to death in contravention of international human rights and the rule of law as we understand it.In the first six months of my presidency, this has involved me writing, in strong terms, to no fewer than 17 countries or states, including Iran, Belarus, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Mexico, Kenya, the Sudan, Turkey, Texas, Georgia, New Mexico, North Carolina and Missouri.The concerns covered involved death row protestations - one in the Sudan involving the sentencing to death by stoning of an 18-year-old boy - harassment, intimidation, death threats directed at human rights lawyers, racial and gender discrimination, wrongful arrest and even prosecutions for doing no more than setting up a medical treatment and rehabilitation centre without government permission.

In many of these cases our representations have included criticisms regarding the absence of any court process and the woefully inadequate level of legal representation.Unfortunately, our pleas are not always acceded to and the responses have been mixed.

But fortunately they do not all fall on deaf ears and I would like to share the satisfaction of some of our successes.The first was an early baptism for me coming as it did within only a month after I became president and while I was attending the Canadian Bar Association's annual meeting in August 2001.

Roy Amlot, then Bar Council chairman, myself and fellow European Bar leaders present were informed that despite our previous written representations, the US Supreme Court, on a split decision, had ratified a Texas death sentence against a young man, Napoleon Beazley, despite the fact that he was younger than 18 years old when he committed the crime.

He was to be executed the next day.

This news was received against the background of myself, together with Bar leaders from 13 European countries plus Canada, Australia and Hong Kong having signed the previous week - while at the American Bar Association's (ABA) annual meeting in Chicago - a resolution calling for the ABA to join with us in campaigning for the abolition of the death penalty throughout the US.The Law Society and Bar Council, with the support of the world bar leaders present in Canada and with the leader of the ABA making his own plea, successfully petitioned President Bush.

The result was that Napoleon Beazley's execution was reprieved, so that his case, involving inadequate representation, could be re-examined.

We await the outcome with fingers crossed.We were also successful in the case of Karpal Singh, the Malaysian lawyer who was threatened with sedition charges following comments he made in court as the defence lawyer for Dato' Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim.

On 14 January, the Malaysian public prosecutor announced that he was withdrawing the charges, noting that he had 'received numerous representations from domestic and international legal bodies'.We are currently preoccupied by two cases which involve serious concerns.

The first relates to Digna Ochoa, a lawyer who was murdered at her office in Mexico City in October 2001.

Though we understand the Mexican authorities are taking seriously the investigation into her death, we have published an outline of the case and an appeal for readers to write to the Mexican Government in this month's issue of the Law Society newsletter, International Highlights.We also have grave concerns regarding the case of Tracy Housel, who has dual UK/US citizenship.

He was sentenced to death in Atlanta.

The case is currently before the Supreme Court.

All of his legal remedies will shortly be exhausted and his execution is imminent.On 8 January we wrote to Prime Minister Tony Blair requesting his intervention but so far there has been no response.

However, the Society is working closely with Tracy Housel's English solicitor, Yasmin Waljee of City law firm Lovells, and we hope that a reprieve can be obtained.These cases are but further examples of the important work that the Law Society undertakes without many of our 104,000 English and Welsh solicitors knowing about it.

It is another reason why we all ought to be proud of belonging to a profession which is continually - in part through the Law Society - fighting selflessly for justice and human rights.David McIntosh is the Law Society President